Across the Border
by Dark Day For Anime
Summary: Tales of the Death Sailors
1. Across the Border part 1: Orders to Kill

B I S H O U J O S E N S H I S A I L O R M O O N  
  
A C R O S S T H E B O R D E R  
  
by DARK DAY FOR ANIME (Mark A Page)  
  
--------------------------------------------------------------------  
  
Disclaimer - This is a story containing characters who were created  
by anyone but me. That anyone would happen to be Takeuchi Naoko.  
  
Handle it.  
  
--------------------------------------------------------------------  
  
  
Usagi looked out of the window at the high point above. The   
skies were a beautiful azure blue, and the clouds light and  
fluffy.... She was almost tempted to take her notebook out of her   
backpack and start writing down some poetry. But this wasn't the   
time for artistic relection. The time was close to seven to nine.   
Time to move out!  
  
She turned to Rei and Ami, who nodded. Having packed all of  
their gear into their own backpacks, and dressed in their red and   
blue bodysuits (respectively) and black overcoats, they made to move   
out of the classroom that had been their home for the night.  
  
Usagi had been quicker than them in rising this morning, which  
was most unusual for her. As the veteran amongst the trio, she had  
always taken things a little more lightly than Ami or Rei, knowing  
well the limitations of their enemies. However, for some reason she  
felt a little nervous about what might follow. She flexed her   
fingers, remembering the dying screams of the man she had been   
ordered to dispose of yesterday. Just another one of the souls that  
haunted her, now.  
  
  
Shaking the thought from her mind, she fitted her backpack   
around her shoulders and knelt down to the floor, picking up a stick   
from the floor. Rei and Ami stood by the doorway, looking back   
at her, their eyes full of anticipation.  
  
Slowly, Usagi began to tap the stick on the floor. Ten, nine,  
eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, one....  
  
They ran through the doorway into the corridor, turning left   
and making for the Principal's Office. Their pace was slower than   
normal, but they had rid themselves of some of those who had been  
following them the night before, so things weren't likely to get  
messy. They had earned this little benefit of their job.  
  
----o  
  
Part One  
Orders to Kill  
  
----o  
  
The Principal's Office was empty, as they expected. Rei was  
the first onto his desk, jumping up and pushing the ceiling tile  
away, exposing the hidden infrastructure beyond. Rei then reached  
down to Ami, grabbing her hand. Ami pushed herself up, by one leg,  
and was catapaulted through the gap.  
  
Rei repeated this action with Usagi, then followed herself,  
being careful to replace the tile after she found her balance on the  
roofing beam. The tile had to look only slightly smudged, or out of  
place, for their enemies to be able to follow the trail. It had   
happened before.... Rei had had friends and partners die through  
such small mistakes.  
  
  
Rei gave Ami and Usagi the thumbs up, and the three began to  
crawl along the beam, towards an access opening at the far end.   
Ami, reaching the access first, stopped and placed her ear against   
it. After a couple of taps, she put up a hand to the others,   
gesturing that she wasn't sure of how clean the opening was.  
  
Usagi and Rei looked at each other. Usagi signalled to the  
structure above. That way? Rei shook her head. There was another   
level there, blocking their path with a floor of concrete. Ami   
gestured a backtrack, but this time both Usagi and Rei gave her   
pained looks. Why the hell would they want to backtrack now? Ami   
shrugged and placed her right hand against the serviceway. Only one   
way to go, then.  
  
Ami fidgeted with the opening, and after a pause of   
preparation, she pulled it back. There was no explosion, nor the  
shot of a waiting sniper.... Not that a sniper would be so stupid   
as to fire straight away....  
  
Ami reached into her jacket and pulled out a set of hi-tech   
goggles, then opened the serviceway door, adjusting the goggles to  
scan. This placed her life in danger for approximately twenty   
seconds as she made a sweep of the area. Nothing more than a small  
gap between two buildings, with various other buildings in the   
background. On top of one of those buildings, she saw a Dada Group  
in action. Civilians.... Might be difficult if they get caught in  
the crossfire. Apart from that, she saw nothing threatening.  
  
Ami gestured to her partners the situation, and gripped the   
top of the serviceway. With a thrust, she'd swung herself out onto  
the tiny ledge. From her backpack, she pulled out a grappling hook   
and cable, and swung it around. With a mighty throw, she pitched   
the hook at the edge of the roof. The hook held firm, and she gave  
Usagi and Rei the thumbs up. Time to move on.  
  
  
Ami clambered up the rope, slowly, followed by Usagi and Rei.   
She paused just before the top of the building, then adjusted her   
goggles once more, giving her over-the-horizon vision. The roof was  
clear.  
  
Below, as usagi began to ascend the rope, Rei closed the door  
to the accessway carefully, for the same reasons she replaced the   
ceiling tile. Holding onto the rope, she peered around, and spotted  
the Dada group, in the distance.  
  
Her heart skipped a beat as she remembered her days with just  
such a group.... Growing up with her Grandfather, who had founded   
the group.... The parties, the art exhibitions, the violence, at   
times.... Rei swallowed hard and looked upwards. Usagi was almost  
at the roof edge. No time to think back on a childhood that shall  
never return....  
  
  
Ami placed a handclamp onto the edge of the roof, allowing her  
to hang on without the need for the rope, and reached down to Usagi.  
Usagi put out her hand, and was flung over the edge of the roof,   
landing catlike on the concrete. She quickly made a recce of the  
roof area, moving out of Rei's way seconds later as the dark-haired   
girl landed in the exact same spot, in exactly the same manner. Rei   
then turned and helped Ami over. Within seconds, the rope and hook   
were wound back up, and Ami's goggles were connected to her belt.  
  
  
Rei checked the edge of the roof for any marks of their   
arrival. She cringed when she saw the tiny scratches where the   
grappling hook had been. "Gonna be a problem?" She gestured to   
Ami. The blue haired girl pursed her lips and shrugged. Their   
enemies could spot a lot of things, but many had passed this way   
before, so it might be possible that, if any were on their trail,  
they'd miss it.  
  
You gotta be kidding, Rei gestured. Some of theit enemies   
were almost as well trained and as well kitted as they were. Just  
one of those would be able to spot the marks and decide, for   
themselves, how recent they were. Ami shrugged again, it couldn't  
be helped, now.  
  
Rei shook her head as Usagi arrived at the cable bridge.... A  
fat cable that ran between the roof of this building and the higher  
one on the other side of the small school yard. On top of that   
building lay the High Point.... The place where their trail would   
end for anyone following....  
  
  
Rei and Ami joined her, quickly. Ami flipped the goggles on  
again and scanned the area below them. She gave the thumbs up to  
her companions and replaced the goggles as Usagi whipped out a pair  
of hand grapplers, attching them to this end of the cable and  
checking its torsion.  
  
The cable felt solid in her efforts to bend it. That could   
mean one of two things.... It was tough enough to take their   
weight, or it would go the way of all solid objects and crumble.  
  
Well, there really was no turning back, now. Usagi stepped up   
onto the wall that lined that side of the roof, then stepped off.   
The cable creaked as she wrenched the grapplers, which slid along   
the cable with protest, tiny little wheel locks preventing her from   
sliding back down the cable's incline. Ami let out a breath of   
distaste as Usagi struggled along. This wasn't going to be easy.  
  
She followed Usagi's example, placing her grapplers onto the  
cable, then taking hold of them with her hands. After a couple of  
breaths, she stepped off the side. By this time, Usagi was at least  
ten feet ahead of her.  
  
She felt the blood rush to her legs, giving her instant pins   
and needles, hot pins and needles even, the worst kind. She hated   
hanging over long drops like this. Slowly, she wrestled the   
grapplers up the cable.  
  
  
Rei had been waiting, impatiently, for Ami to get moving.  
Whilst Ami was the gadget queen amongst the trio, her active skills  
left something to be desired, sometimes, and she was falling behind  
Usagi with each wrench of the grapplers.  
  
Rei gave the blue-haired girl some time.... She hated this,  
glancing around for their enemies. It was possible, if they had   
made the classroom by now, that they would see the trio making their  
way across the gap. It wasn't likely, all things considered, but in  
this line of work one should be prepared for any eventuation.  
  
  
After giving Ami some room, Rei then attached her grapplers to  
the cable. With even less fear than her companions, she leapt off   
the side of the building, making great strokes with the grapplers,  
swinging her legs in an effort to keep herself moving.  
  
  
Usagi reached the far end of the cable and gritted her teeth.   
Now came the REAL problem. Trying to swing one's legs over the side   
of THIS building, from the position of hanging over a precipice.  
  
Usagi struggled a couple of times. Even in the fit state she   
was in, this wasn't easy. It reminded her of the time she had had   
to do this between two skyscrapers. She was with a group of five,   
and two failed to make it over, both tiring and falling to their   
deaths. Usagi knew that, if she didn't get up, then both Ami and   
Rei could suffer the same fate. The thought of taking on the next  
assignment alone was enough to see her hook her right foot onto the  
tiny ledge.  
  
With strength born of a lifetime of training, than foot   
wrenched her up to the level of the wall. She pulled the grapplers   
forward and slipped the leg all the way over the wall, following it  
with her left. Now, in a slightly seated position, she was able to   
slip easily over the wall and onto the roof below.  
  
  
She detached her grapplers and quickly placed them in her   
backpack, scanning the rooftop for any assassins. She then turned   
back as Ami arrived at the wall, kicking her legs up in an effort to  
match Usagi's performance.  
  
Usagi reached over the wall and grabbed Ami's left leg,   
pulling the girl forward. Ami's breath was laboured and her face   
red. Usagi couldn't blame her. Ami always had a tremendous fear of  
heights. Ami had even fallen during her days of training, only to   
survive because of her own precaution of attaching a special bailout  
line. In terms of Assassin Cadets, it was considered cheating to   
preserve one's life in such a manner. Ami didn't care.... She was  
the only one in her class still alive today.  
  
Usagi grabbed Ami's right leg and pulled her right over the   
ledge. Ami then spun around, wrenching the grapplers forward and   
detaching them, whipping them into her backpack and collapsing   
against the wall, her eyes closed, sweat running down her face.  
Usagi looked at her with concern, tapping her on the shoulder.  
  
Ami gave Usagi the thumbs up signal and opened her eyes,   
smiling. Another day, another dice with death. Ami got to her feet  
and put on her goggles, looking around the rooftop with more   
accuracy than Usagi's quick scan as Usagi went to work on Rei, who  
had been waiting patiently behind Ami as the blue-haired girl was  
carted over.  
  
  
The roof seemed safe at first, but Ami spotted something that  
worried her.... She whistled as Usagi pulled Rei over the side,   
then clamped one fist down into the palm of her other hand. The   
rooftop was mined!  
  
Usagi and Rei looked at her worriedly as the girl counted.   
One. Two. Three. Four. Five.... Ami held up five fingers,   
telling the others what she could see. Usagi let out a breath,   
counting her lucky stars she didn't check this roof out like the  
other.  
  
Ami turned and checked the highpoint, a small roof access door  
with a window. She gave the access an OK signal, then turned   
towards a rooftop airconditioning unit, pointing to it as shelter.  
  
  
She ran behind it as Rei removed her grapplers and placed them  
in her backpack. After waiting a couple of moments for Rei to   
regain her breath, the two ran over to the unit, joining Ami, who   
was fiddling with a small box-like object. It had a clunky numbered  
dial and several switches. With her goggles resting on her   
forehead, she waited as the other two slipped in behind her, then   
started fiddling with the dial.  
  
After several attempts to generate and explosive frequency,   
there was a blast that knocked several feet of concrete from the   
points where each mine had been planted. Ami snapped her fingers,  
filled with the sense of victory. The device had been her own   
invention, and had saved the lives of many of the Republic's   
assassins.  
  
  
They thought they could hear cheers coming from all over the   
city and giggled. if only the civilians truly understood the depth  
of the seriousness of this situation. Almost all of them would   
never be able to understand.... Nor should they have to. For this  
trio, however, torn from similar backgrounds, that sense of innocent  
abandon was lost forever....  
  
Their amusement now fading, Ami replaced the box into her   
overcoat and snapped her fingers in the direction of the access   
door. Rei nodded and made her way across to the door, tapping it   
and giving it the thumbs up. She then opened up the door and peered   
within, nodding to her satisfaction that it was safe.... After all,  
the only ones who would be able to cross this threshold would be   
them....  
  
  
There was a cry from behind one of the small outcrops of   
ducting on the other end of the rooftop, and two figures emerged,   
one holding a weapon at the ready in one arm, and a wounded comrade  
with the other, hurt in the mine blasts. Rei quickly fell to the  
ground as Usagi pulled out her double-barrel revolver from her   
overcoat, leaping into the open.  
  
With two calm shots, she blew the heads of the assassins clean  
off their shoulders, and knelt there, in front of Rei, breathing   
heavily, a sense of pleasure and satisfaction running through the   
very core of her being.... There was nothing she enjoyed more than  
killing the enemy.... the cathartic element of simply pumping the  
bullets into their bodies...  
  
She checked herself. They were human beings, much like   
themselves, who had been similar torn from their innocent lives, but  
for very different reasons.... To bring down the Republic. Usagi  
got to her feet and replaced her revolver as Rei stood, smiling at  
her in cynical thanks. Usagi turned to her and shrugged. All in a  
day's work.  
  
  
Ami made her way over to the access door, joining the others,  
and they both peered into the small, dark stairwell that existed   
beyond. Both the walls and the stairs were covered in a plush black  
carpet, giving it a darkly welcoming appearance. And so it should   
be.... For the time being, it would be the safest place they were  
likely to experience....  
  
  
Rei nodded to the others and leapt through the doorway, first.  
Well, nothing bad happened to her, thought Usagi, immediately   
cursing the thought that she had used Rei as a test to see if the  
Central Branch's security devices were faulty. Shaking her head,   
she made her way through and down the first small segment of stairs,  
stopping where Rei had stopped in wait, looking back up at her.  
  
Usagi turned and waited for Ami to follow, only to hear the   
girl let out a cry and come rolling down the stairs, ploughing into  
the two of them. After Usagi had managed to stand from the sprawl  
of bodies, she whipped out her revolver once more as shots   
ricocheted from the stairwell wall. The sound of feet running   
towards the entrance made her bring the weapon to bear.  
  
  
There was the sound of scrambling at the entrance, then a huge  
flash made her cover her eyes. With a short scream, their new   
attacker was reduced to paste against the carpet by a series of   
small laser beams that emanated from hidden ports within the carpet  
itself.  
  
Usagi let out a sigh of relief as the access door   
automatically closed, replacing her weapon and turning to Ami, who   
was grinning like a Cheshire Cat.  
  
"Gomen...." She finally muttered. "I only saw him at the   
last moment."  
  
"You're slipping up in your old age." Rei removed herself   
from underneath the blue-haired girl, glad that they could finally  
use their voices now that they were out of official "combat"   
territory.  
  
"Easy for you to say." Ami got to her feet, brushing herself  
down and wrenching her backpack from her shoulders. "I notice you  
didn't spot that pair, earlier."  
  
"It wasn't my job to." Rei huffed. "That's why you're here."  
  
"Enough of this." Usagi barked at them. "We made it, okay?"  
  
  
"Ah, I see you're in an argumentative mood, today." The voice  
echoed along the stairwell, and the trio whipped around, looking for  
its owner.  
  
"Who is that?" Rei demanded.  
  
"Oh really, girls. Don't you recognise my voice?" There was  
humour in the woman's tone, and realisation dawned on them.  
  
"President Serenity?" Usagi gasped. "I... We're sorry. We  
didn't expect you to be briefing us, this time."  
  
"Where are you?" Ami blinked. "Are you broadcasting this to  
us?"  
  
"Continue along the stairwell. Soon, you shall come to a safe  
house, where you shall be able to receive all relevant information,  
detailing your next target. Oh, and by the way, nice jump there,   
Ami. Pity it's going to take a bit to clean up that carpet."  
  
"Uh... thankyou, Ma'am." Ami bowed, slightly, feeling   
slightly silly. Usagi tapped Ami on the shoulder and the blue-  
haired girl nodded to her. After picking up her backpack, Ami   
started her way down, followed by Rei and Usagi.  
  
----o  
  
Within the Safe House, a small, white-walled old school drama  
room, with the same black carpet on the floor and a small dais at   
one end, with black curtains covering the large windows, Usagi, Ami  
and Rei were finally able to remove their backpacks and overcoats.   
In an adjoining room was a small shower, in which they could refresh  
themselves, although it was a bitch in removing their bodysuits,   
which hugged their forms with extreme prejudice.  
  
Having now washed and relaxed, redressing in the bodysuits in  
case they needed to move quickly, they found a small food parcel   
sitting in the far corner of the room, behind the dais.  
  
Ami checked the food for toxins before they started to hoe in,  
stuffing themselves on the canned meats and vegetables. It had been  
a while since they had eaten food as good as this. Even better that  
Ami had remembered to bring a canopener.... It would have been a   
pain if Rei had to blast the cans open again with her low-grade   
explosive charges.  
  
  
Eventually, they stood in a row upon the dais and awaited   
their orders. A small screen descended from the ceiling in front of  
them, and on it appeared the image of a woman with long white hair,  
sitting in front of a frescoe, representing the symbol of the   
Republic of Surrealism. The trio saluted their President, Serenity  
von Kalrich.  
  
"The Death Sailors, reporting as you ordered, my Lady, and   
awaiting your orders." Usagi said, deferentially, as the unofficial  
speaker for the group.  
  
"Ah, indeed. And most prompt you were, too, if I must say so,  
myself. It isn't easy for our operatives to get about, anymore."  
  
"Thankyou, my Lady." Said the trio, in unison. Serenity   
smiled and lifted up a small piece of paper.  
  
"So, we better get down to business. At ease." Serenity   
nodded at the trio, and the three put down their arms and gently sat  
on the dais, cross-legged. Serenity continued. "This man is to be  
your next target."  
  
The image changed to a still shot of a handsome looking   
individual, with short blond hair and piercing eyes. The hearts of  
the trio fluttered, slightly, then settled as they remembered the  
situation.  
  
"This is Adam Jade, the leader of the group known as the   
Masters of Reality." Serenity's voice continued over the images  
that started to flash across the screen. One of Jade addressing a  
small gathering, another of Jade in a severely-cut but decorative  
grey uniform, making an inspection of similarly-dressed soldiers.  
"He intends to unite several powerful reality factions in the hope  
of creating an army capable of taking on the forces of the Republic.  
Death Sailors, he must NOT succeed. You must kill him at ALL costs,  
for the lives of all who exist are at risk if he is to succeed...."  
  
  
END OF PART 1  
  
--------------------------------------------------------------------  
  
ACROSS THE BORDER  
  
  
In the heat of the day  
Many miles away when the  
Sun is beating down  
upon the main street.  
I'll be waiting at the station,  
I gotta move down the line.  
  
They'll be dancing and singin'  
And doin' their thing  
And they'll be rockin' and rollin'  
Until the day is done.  
You know I've got to  
Make the deadline-  
  
I gotta get that southbound train tonight-  
If I don't get to the border then I'll write.  
  
The Mardis Gras  
Will be blowing strong  
And the people dancing  
All across the city  
I'm leavin' here tonight  
I gotta move down the line.  
  
I'm gonna catch a ride  
On the 9.05  
I'm gonna ride the rails  
Until we reach the morning,  
Maybe three or four  
Hundred miles.  
  
I gotta get that southbound train tonight-  
If I don't get to the border then I'll write.  
  
When the wind is blowing  
Softly throught the streets  
of a little town  
And the music's playin',  
You're waitin' somewhere  
Over the horizon.  
  
I gotta get that southbound train tonight-  
If I don't get to the border then I'll write.  
  
  
-Jeff Lynne-  
  
--------------------------------------------------------------------  
  
Next Chapter - "Nemesis Gate"  
  
So what do you think, ppls? A dead set classic in the making, or a  
piece of rampant crappe? ^_^;;  
  
  
This story came about because of a dream I had. Believe it or not,  
the dream was almost exactly what you see above. I have strange   
dreams, okay? ^_^;;  
  
Anyway, the dream itself dealt with this theme, but involved three  
young men, rather than three young women, as I have written here.   
It might be interesting if I were to rewrite this to please the Yaoi  
crowd on the Yaoi ML and the YSML.... Maybe not.... ^_^;;  
  
Anyways, I hope you ppls were capable of following the storyline so  
far. I always have trouble with people following my ideas, be they  
UID, SIU or whatnot. Must be the way I write. I know what I mean  
when I'm writing things. I tend to forget, rather unfortunately,   
that not everyone is blessed with the same insight into the stories  
that I have as their creator....  
  
For those who are interested, yes, I do have a certain fascination  
with buildings, and the clausterphobic nature of architecture.   
That's why I created such plot devices as the Eternal City in UID   
and the Sacred House compound in SIU.... Monolithic structures of  
varying nature in which the characters become swamped. In this   
story, the monolithic structure is not dissimilar to the Eternal   
City, the differences lie in the fact that it DOES have an end to   
it. Where the Republic of Surrealism ends, so does the city itself.  
That those living within the Republic take to their environment in a  
manner most unusual may be described as a kind of rebellion within  
my own mind for this fascination with the oppressive.  
  
-Mark-  
  
DDFA ayanami@internode.on.net  
Chief Propoganda Officer, Keeper of the Tapes  
ADELAIDE JAPANESE ANIMATION SOCIETY  
(aka the Assorted Juvenile Atrocities Sect)  
  
Version 1.1 - 22nd May 1998 


	2. Across the Border part 2: Nemesis Gate

B I S H O U J O S E N S H I S A I L O R M O O N  
  
A C R O S S T H E B O R D E R  
  
by DARK DAY FOR ANIME (Mark A Page)  
  
--------------------------------------------------------------------  
  
Disclaimer - This is a story containing characters who were created  
by anyone but me. That anyone would happen to be Takeuchi Naoko.  
  
Handle it.  
  
--------------------------------------------------------------------  
  
W H A T H A S G O N E B E F O R E  
  
The DEATH SAILORS, Tsukino Usagi III, Hino Rei Jnr and Professor   
Mizuno Ami, operatives of President Serenity and the Republic  
of Surrealism, have survived what is, for them, a dangerous trek   
through their capital city, even if a very short one. Enemies lie  
in wait at every turn, ready to kill them, and their only hope is to  
reach the prepared safe houses that dot the capital.  
  
Having survived this ordeal, they now take orders from their   
President, unaware that their operation to kill the leader of the   
Masters of Reality, Adam Jade, is to be joined....  
  
--------------------------------------------------------------------  
  
The tiny figure flitted across the roof of the damaged   
building, doing its best to ignore the human remains that lay there,  
and prevent its fur and paws from being soiled. It would not do to  
make her arrival a messy one.  
  
  
It seemed that the Death Sailors had met with some resistance.   
Not particularly intelligent resistance, either. After all, they   
had plenty of opportunities to kill the Death Sailors during their  
traversal of the gap between the two buildings.  
  
Instead, they chose to sit and wait. That was their mistake.  
The Death Sailors weren't the sort to be so easily taken.... Not  
that the figure wanted to admit she was impressed with their   
efforts. She'd never been able to rid herself of the sense of  
selfish pride that had come from her upbringing.  
  
  
She stepped over to one of the dead assassins and studied the  
uniform with much distaste. She was well used to the casualties of  
the underground war (and sometimes not even that) to control the   
Republic. She'd seen such bodies during the painful years of change  
between the rule of the aristocracy and the current regime. She   
prayed that this battle did not end up the same way....  
  
Definitely members of the Truth Militia. Not particularly   
well organised, but certainly NOT lacking in firepower. Minor   
revolutionaries with no real understanding of the import of their  
actions, merely a desire to wage war on whomever was in power.   
Throwbacks to the bloodlines that preceded even the aristocracy.   
They couldn't be blamed for what they did, it was in their genes.  
  
She shook her head and chuckled. As if people could be   
excused for their actions so easily. She mused on her thoughts for  
a while, taking in the sounds of the capital. The sounds of   
operatic and theatrical performances, concerts and fairs. The city  
had become a party town, devoid of the kind of industry of other   
nations. Their industry was thought, something they exported with  
much gusto.  
  
That was why there were those willing to fight against it.   
She pitied those without imagination.  
  
  
She took a breath and turned back to the door which lead to   
the safe house. Time to meet with them. Time to reunite herself  
with the child....  
  
----o  
  
Part Two  
Nemesis Gate  
  
----o  
  
Within the safe house, President Serenity, viewed via a large   
communications screen, had started to debrief her trio of   
operatives. Crossing her slender fingers in front of her, she   
studied Usagi. The similarity in their appearances had even made  
both Rei and Ami glance between them. With deference to their Madam  
President, of course.  
  
She thought it time to allow them to relax a little. The   
Death Sailors were her best operatives and she didn't want them to  
exhaust themselves just by being in her presence. Well, quasi-  
presence, anyway. She considered the artistic ramifications of this  
dichotomy.  
  
  
"So, we better get down to business. At ease." Serenity   
nodded at the Death Sailors. The trio almost immediately went into  
a state of physical meltdown, relaxing their stiffened postures and  
attitudes. Usagi moved her neck from side to side, trying to loosen  
up her muscles before sitting, cross legged, on the dais. Rei   
stretched her arms and yawned, following suit. Ami was the last to  
sit, if only because she'd crossed her arms in front of her and   
waited for her partners to do something.  
  
It was amazing, thought Serenity, the various interpretations  
placed upon her words when she would tell her operatives to be "at   
ease". She wished they were all as easygoing as these three.   
Probably one of the reasons why they were so successful. Of course,  
she could think of other groups who were even more easygoing, or   
even laissez-faire, whose actions were something of an embarassment  
to the Republic....  
  
  
After a sigh, Serenity continued. "This man is to be your   
next target."  
  
The image changed to a still shot of a handsome-looking   
individual, with short blond hair and piercing eyes. The hearts of  
the trio fluttered momentarily as they gazed into those eyes, then   
settled as they remembered the situation.  
  
"This is.... Adam Jade." Serenity's voice wavered at the   
mention of Jade's name. Usagi and Rei glanced at each other for a   
second, then shrugged. "He is the leader of the group known as the   
Masters of Reality. I'm sure you have heard of them. They were   
involved in the assassination of Ambassador Osaka."  
  
"The father of the young arts tycoon, Osaka Naru?" Ami   
queried. Rei spat contempt.  
  
"Damn bitch sold out is what she did." Rei leaned back on her  
arms, staring at the ceiling.  
  
"This isn't an argument about artistic ethics, Rei." Usagi  
huffed, puffing up her face.  
  
"Easy for someone as removed as you have been from society to  
say such things. In the circles I had frequented, she was looked   
upon as the spawn of the devil.... An AKUMA of the highest order."  
  
  
"I understand your feelings, Operative Hino, but she is still   
a citizen of this nation, and her feelings at the loss of her father  
are genuine." Serenity chided her wayward charge. Rei's face   
softened and she sat up again.  
  
"I know, madam President. I am sorry."  
  
"Now, shall we continue?" Serenity made a brief reappearance  
on the screen, her eyes stern despite her smile.  
  
"Hai." The trio chorused, suitably chastised. Serenity   
nodded, her smile widening before images started to flash across the   
screen, Serenity narrating over each and every one.  
  
  
The images showed various events in Jade's rise to power....   
One of Jade addressing a small gathering, another of Jade in a   
severely-cut but decorative grey uniform, making an inspection of   
similarly-dressed soldiers.  
  
"He intends to unite several powerful reality factions in the   
hope of creating an army capable of taking on the forces of the   
Republic. Death Sailors, he must NOT succeed. You must kill him at   
ALL costs, for the lives of all who exist are at risk if he is to   
succeed...."  
  
----o  
  
  
ADAM JADE - THE FIRST NEMESIS GATE RALLY - 5TH LOK  
  
Brothers and Sisters, I just don't know what this world is   
coming to.  
  
People accepting dreams, fantasy and surreality over the truth!   
The truth that goes by the name of REALITY! And thus they suppress   
those of us who choose to believe in this truth.  
  
For it is a truth greater than all of us put together. A HOLY  
truth. It is written into the constitution, the Right to Believe   
whatever we wish to believe, and the Right to Bear Arms in defense   
of those beliefs.  
  
  
We have struggled, for many years, since the foundation of the  
Republic, to have our collective voices heard, without fear of   
suppression or retribution.   
  
It is our RIGHT by LAW to have these beliefs. Yet, we have to   
struggle to be heard, and this struggle has met with the harshest   
punishment....   
  
The murder of our number, in the multitudes. MURDER, my   
fellow believers, by the Government that is supposed to serve US.  
  
Why? Why do this to us? What have we done that deserves such  
punishment? Nothing, that is what. Nothing that is not allowed by   
our constitution. Nothing that is not within our rights to do.   
  
And yet, because of this, we are branded as criminals and   
terrorists. We are portrayed as the villains by a corrupt regime   
who have, in a machiavellian fashion, taken away the rights of the   
people to express themselves as they see fit.   
  
Only those who live by the orthodoxy of the regime are free do   
do as they please. And we have to question this concept of freedom.  
  
  
Why do we threaten them so? Perhaps they see, within our   
ways, our attitude, something that shall be more appealing to   
the masses?  
  
Yes, more than ever, they fear the attraction by the people to  
our ways. They fear its intrinsic RIGHTEOUSNESS. Within it lies   
the power to change society, and make it so much more than the mess  
we see, today.  
  
  
Yes, my brothers and sisters. Truth and Reality are the codes  
by which we all live, and together, we shall bring down the powers   
that be, and show the people the truth of our holy cause!  
  
  
TRANSCRIPT WRITTEN BY HYLDUEN LORCANO - 7TH LOK  
  
  
----o  
  
"The enemy we encountered on our way here...." Ami rubbed her   
chin, pondering the nature of their enemies. "Were they possibly   
involved with Jade's group? They seemed awfully prepared for our   
arrival, and would point to the fact that Jade already has his eyes  
on us...."  
  
Serenity reappeared on the screen and nodded, thoughtfully.   
Ami had been reasonably quiet throughout the debriefing, unlike   
Usagi and Rei, who had been firing pointed remarks and rebukes at  
each other all the way through. At least she could rely on Ami to  
put in some deep thought, even if it did, on occasions, appear out   
of some strange theoretical tangents.  
  
"I wouldn't discount the possibility.... Jade is quite a   
paranoid individual and would have many of his assassin groups   
watching out for republican operatives."  
  
Usagi shrugged. "We are under threat, constantly, from a   
multitude of groups. Those commandos we encountered could have   
belonged to anyone." Usagi looked aside at Ami, who was not   
prepared to enter into the kind of argument Usagi wanted to have.  
She merely shot Usagi a pained expression and turned away.  
  
This left Usagi hanging out on a limb. Of all the responses  
likely to fluster her, the silent treatment worked the best. It was  
not as if Usagi wanted to throw a spanner into Ami's theory.... She  
was just having one of those moments.... The desire to be   
obstructive for no visibly apparent reason. She had felt,   
instinctively, that something different was going to happen on this  
mission....  
  
  
"Is that your judgement, Tsukino Usagi the third?" Said the  
soft, feminine voice from behind the Death Sailors. Instantly, they  
spun and got to their feet, hand revolvers whipped from where they  
had been clipped, on their belts. They relaxed as soon as they saw   
who they were facing. Mostly. "Really, Usagi.... A double-  
barrelled revolver.... I'm amazed you're capable of withstanding  
the kick of such a weapon. What is it, a .22 or a .357?"  
  
Usagi huffed and turned away, reattaching her weapon to her   
belt. "I've trained with this weapon my entire life. I made it,  
myself! I am a gunsmith, remember? I don't need you to judge my   
capacity to use it."  
  
  
"Ah. Lady Luna de Sade. It is nice to see you made it here,  
safely." President Serenity smiled behind them, crossing her hands  
over her lap, ignoring the grumblings of Usagi. Of course, she had  
fully expected Usagi to grumble when she had chosen to team Lady   
Luna with the Death Sailors.  
  
  
The dark blue-black cat was sitting, front feet aligned with  
snobbish feline poise, gazing at the weapons that had been pointed   
at her with total disdain. "I see your paranoia has not passed with   
time, Tsukino Usagi the third." The cat smiled, her eyes squinting   
with amusement.  
  
Ami decided to break the ice with the new arrival "With good   
reason, Lady de Sade. Do you normally travel in the form of a cat?"  
  
"It is the best way to get around the city without being   
attacked. Very few of the enemy believe, or even understand, the   
powers of the old nobles." Luna chuckled, putting a paw up to her  
mouth. "On top of that, I happen to find the feline form more   
comfortable. Do any of you have a problem with this? Don't answer  
that, Usagi, I know what your answer shall be."  
  
Usagi continued to grumble, Rei stepping alongside her, trying  
to calm her down. "Now now, we don't want any trouble in the   
presence of the madam President, do we?"  
  
"I'll give that overblown feral trouble if she's not careful."  
Usagi mumbled....  
  
"What's your problem with her?" Rei gripped Usagi by the   
shoulder, and immediately let go, taking a few nervous steps back as  
Usagi wheeled on her, gritting her teeth. But the blond merely   
shook her head and looked away.  
  
"Are you here for a reason, Lady de Sade?" Ami looked between  
Luna and Serenity, nervously. "To be our guide in this mission?"  
  
  
Serenity answered. "Indeed. She has been spying on the   
activities of the Masters of Reality for some time now."  
  
"Great. We get the counsel of the cat." Usagi sat back down  
on the dais, roughly, crossing her arms and closing her eyes. Rei  
shook her head and stepped over beside Ami, looking at Luna.  
  
"I have to say...." Rei sniffed. "Usagi's reaction is rather  
extreme." Usagi shot a glance at Rei, looking daggers so fierce Rei  
could feel them striking her. She did her best to ignore them.  
  
"Let's just say we've never had the best of working   
relationships. I'm afraid there are a few things in our past that   
she might just be holding against me." Luna chuckled softly and   
stood, stretching her front legs. "I guess I better assume a more   
human posture. Being a cat seems to bring out Usagi's worst."  
  
"Not likely to change, either way." Usagi mumbled to herself.  
  
  
Rei and Ami watched, with fascination born from never having  
experienced the magic of the Aristocrats, as Luna closed her eyes  
and shivered. Her fur rose and fell in waves along her back as a  
gentle glow enveloped her.  
  
She rose to her hind paws, like a cat attempting to walk like  
a human. Before either Rei or Ami could remark on this, her form  
began to extend, both fore and hind legs growing out into long,   
slender limbs, her head widening, her trunk developing to scale and   
her fur retreating to her head, retaining its dark, blue-black sheen   
and cascading well past her shoulders in gentle waves. Slowly, this  
new form lowered itself to the floor, to her knees, as the glow   
dissipated.  
  
  
Where the feline Lady Luna had stood, the naked form of a   
noble young lady, knelt. She opened her eyes, covering her body   
with her arms, and smiled at her audience with an imperious   
arrogance. At least, that is what it seemed like to Rei, who wasn't  
too enamoured of that expression.  
  
"The powers of the nobles are strange, are they not?" Lady  
Luna chuckled. "All I need now are some clothes." She looked down  
at her naked form, expectantly.  
  
"Perhaps you can magically conjure some up." Usagi muttered.  
  
"You shall find some in the antechamber, Lady Luna."   
President Serenity nodded. Lady Luna smiled and stood, turning  
quickly and padding towards the door at the far end of the main   
room.  
  
"Sugoiii." Rei blinked, holding her hands up to her mouth.  
"I've never seen anything like it."  
  
"Lycanthropy, or a form of such. Fascinating. I must study  
this phenomenon." Ami rubbed her chin.  
  
"She won't let you, Ami. She's not that kind of person." Rei  
and Ami turned to Usagi, who had now stood, staring away from them.  
"You've seen one noble change, you've seen them all." Usagi threw   
her nose into the air, haughtily. "Anyway, we are being   
disrespectful in the presence of our President."  
  
"You can talk." Rei growled.  
  
----o  
  
The fire that was consuming the house almost did the same to  
the Lady Luna's flowing dress, as she attempted to make her way   
through the main hallway.  
  
"My Lady, it is too dangerous. Stop, before you get yourself  
killed!" The voice of her servant, Azentor, a short, tubby and   
balding middle-aged man, echoed through the roar of the flames. She  
momentarily looked back at him, standing helplessly in the door to   
the hallway, his hands in front of his face.  
  
"I can't. I must find the Lord and Lady Tsukino and their   
children. They were in the guest rooms when the explosions went   
off." Luna shook her head, holding a hand to her mouth as she took  
a lungful of smoke.  
  
"They must be dead, my Lady. Come back, before you suffer a  
similar fate."  
  
  
Luna coughed and gave him a helpless expression, then gripped  
the train of her dress and tore it away as sparks started to set it  
alight. She then continued her staggering path through the flames.  
  
  
Within seconds, she arrived at the door of the guest room in  
which the Tsukinos had been staying. Or what was left of the door.  
Within seconds, she evaluated the scene. There was no doubt that  
the Lord and Lady were dead, their bodies reduced to a gut-wrenching  
mess on the other side of the room.  
  
Obviously, the bomb had been triggered when one or the other  
had tried to open the door. She swallowed and continued on into the  
room, which was almost devoid of flames but not of smoke.... A   
thick mist, descending from the ceiling.  
  
Luna made her way from the main room to the bedroom. Once   
more, she was greeted to a gruesome sight. The young Usagi lay   
across the floor, bleeding heavily from her lower gut. Lying beside  
her was a long portion of wood, blood tipped at one sharp end. A   
portion of the main door that had been blown into Usagi, removed by  
her own hand.  
  
Usagi stirred and looked over at Luna, trying to mouth   
something. Seeing that Luna couldn't understand, she gestured to  
the corner of the room, to Luna's right.  
  
Luna turned and could see the figure of Usagi's younger   
brother. He was hideously burnt across his back. Luna coughed as  
the mist of smoke wafted through the doorway, then made for the   
unfortunate young boy.  
  
She reached down and managed to haul him over her shoulder, an  
effort that took a great deal more than she had expected. She then  
staggered over to Usagi and placed her brother beside her.  
  
"Can you move?"  
  
Usagi's mouth opened to speak, her words coming in a choke.  
"Shin....go...." Luna shook her head in frustration.  
  
"Damn Shingo right at this moment. I can get him out. Can   
YOU move?" Luna put a hand down to Usagi. "Enough to at least lean  
on me?"  
  
"Save.... Shingo. Don't care.... about me...."  
  
"Oh, for Picasso's sake...." Luna gripped Usagi by the arm   
and sat her up against the side of the nearest bed, then managed to  
haul Shingo back over her shoulder. "Even if I succeed in this   
feat, I'm going to throw my back out, I can see it now...." She  
gasped as she managed to kneel down beside Usagi.  
  
Taking the girl's arms, against Usagi's will, she stood,   
hauling the injured girl to her feet. Well, at least Usagi had   
enough energy to stand.  
  
Usagi looked at her with annoyance. "Not... going to live...  
Don't bother... with me..."  
  
"Excuse me for a few moments, but would would you mind   
shutting up, there's a good girl." Luna lifted her right arm up a  
little, balancing Shingo. "Yessiree, I missed my calling. I should  
have been a member of a circus troupe. And now for our next act, we  
present the amazing Lady Luna de Sade, balance supremo   
extrodinaire." She shouted this as she dragged Usagi across the   
bedroom to the main window door, which was, fortunately, open.  
  
They continued through the door, onto the landing, where she  
could see the emergency vehicles arriving, and the many guests that  
had been staying in her palacial mansion, after the dinner she had   
held in honour of her late father, milling about on the large front  
lawn in fear.  
  
"Now comes the real trick. Getting off the landing in one   
piece...." Luna turned and smiled at Usagi, but the girl wasn't   
looking, too concerned with her own pains to take in what was going  
on around her, now.  
  
----o  
  
Perhaps Usagi might have looked upon her a little more kindly  
if Shingo had lived. He was already dead. A corpse, hanging over  
Luna's shoulder, on that day. As dead as the Lord and Lady   
Tsukino...  
  
But Usagi didn't want to admit that. She already KNEW Shingo   
was dead. As dead as she wanted to be.  
  
  
Usagi wasn't the only one to lose those she cared for. They   
never did find Azentor's body after they put out the conflagration   
that had gutted Luna's ancestral home. Somehow, she felt   
responsible for that. But what she did had been important to ONE   
individual.  
  
She found, at the very least, some solace and redemption in  
that fact. But not very much.  
  
  
END OF PART 2   
  
--------------------------------------------------------------------  
  
ACROSS THE BORDER  
  
  
In the heat of the day  
Many miles away when the  
Sun is beating downthe main street.  
I'll be waiting at the station,  
I gotta move down the line.  
  
They'll be dancing and singin'  
And doin' their thing  
And they'll be rockin' and rollin'  
Until the day is done.  
You know I've got to  
Make the deadline-  
  
I gotta get that southbound train tonight-  
If I don't get to the border then I'll write.  
  
The Mardis Gras  
Will be blowing strong  
And the people dancing  
All across the city  
I'm leavin' here tonight  
I gotta move down the line.  
  
I'm gonna catch a ride  
On the 9.05  
I'm gonna ride the rails  
Until we reach the morning,  
Maybe three or four  
Hundred miles.  
  
I gotta get that southbound train tonight-  
If I don't get to the border then I'll write.  
  
When the wind is blowing  
Softly throught the streets  
of a little town  
And the music's playin',  
You're waitin' somewhere  
Over the horizon.  
  
I gotta get that southbound train tonight-  
If I don't get to the border then I'll write.  
  
  
-Jeff Lynne-  
  
--------------------------------------------------------------------  
  
Next Chapter - "Insanity Takes Care of Its Own"  
  
I thought it best to rewrite the original chapter 2 of AtB....  
There were many elements that my friend and sometime co-writer, who  
prefers to go by the title of "Night Rider" (for no visibly apparent  
reason. Well, not visible to me, anyway) wanted to see put into  
this story that seemed to be workable that I decided it prudent to  
do so. Of course, this virtually doubled the length of chapter 2,  
so it is now chapters 2 and 3.  
  
This makes the story a tad more wordy, with less in the way of  
action, but I'm a writer who tends to dwell on the little things  
that make each character what they are.  
  
Anyway, enough of these notes. PallaPalla is tugging on my sleeve,  
wanting to know when she gets to blow someone up. I should get on  
with chapter 4.... ^_^  
  
DDFA (The Right Dishonourable Mark A Page) ayanami@internode.on.net  
  
Version 2.0 - 22nd Jun 1998 


	3. Across the Border part 3: Insanity Takes...

B I S H O U J O S E N S H I S A I L O R M O O N  
  
A C R O S S T H E B O R D E R  
  
by DARK DAY FOR ANIME (Mark A Page)  
  
--------------------------------------------------------------------  
  
Disclaimer - This is a story containing characters who were created  
by anyone but me. That anyone would happen to be Takeuchi Naoko.  
  
Handle it.  
  
--------------------------------------------------------------------  
  
W H A T H A S G O N E B E F O R E  
  
The DEATH SAILORS, Tsukino Usagi III, Hino Rei Jnr and Professor   
Mizuno Ami, operatives of President Serenity and the Republic  
of Surrealism, have survived what is, for them, a dangerous trek   
through their capital city, even if a very short one. Enemies lie  
in wait at every turn, ready to kill them, and their only hope is to  
reach the prepared safe houses that dot the capital.  
  
Surving this ordeal, they began a debriefing session with their   
President when the Lady Luna de Sade makes an appearance. Luna is  
to be their guide throughout the region known as Nemesis Gate, where  
their next target, the Reality Extremist leader, Adam Jade, is   
planning to gather together all the terrorist groups dedicated to   
the cause of reality.  
  
The relationship between Lady Luna and Usagi is exposed to be less   
than friendly, even though Luna had saved Usagi from death in the   
past after a terrorist bomb had killed her family....  
  
--------------------------------------------------------------------  
  
  
Perhaps Usagi might have looked upon her a little more kindly  
if Shingo had lived. He was already dead. A corpse, hanging over  
Luna's shoulder, on that day. As dead as the Lord and Lady   
Tsukino...  
  
But Usagi didn't want to admit that. She already KNEW Shingo   
was dead. As dead as she wanted to be.  
  
  
Usagi wasn't the only one to lose those she cared for. They   
never did find Azentor's body after they put out the conflagration   
that had gutted Luna's ancestral home. Somehow, she felt   
responsible for that. But what she did had been important to ONE   
individual.  
  
She found, at the very least, some solace and redemption in  
that fact. But not very much.  
  
----o  
  
Part Three  
Insanity Takes Care of Its Own  
  
----o  
  
Lady Luna stepped back into the main room some five minutes   
later, dressed in a similar bodysuit to that of the Death Sailors,   
with dark blue trim to match the black.   
  
She was somewhat disappointed at the lack of attention the   
others were giving her. They were continuing to discuss the   
operation with Serenity, sitting on the dais like they were the   
moment she first entered the main room.  
  
She did note that Usagi glanced at her, momentarily, then   
turned away. Luna sighed, dropping her face. She knew Usagi was  
going to be frosty with her, but the drama displayed by the girl  
was more than she expected. Sighing, she quietly made her way up  
to the dais.  
  
  
"I take it the three of you have heard of Nemesis Gate?"   
Serenity looked at them, questioningly.  
  
"Indeed, I have." Ami nodded. "It is the border post region  
with the neighbouring kingdom of Queen Beryl, is it not?"  
  
"Last bastion of the aristocratic regime that once ruled this  
land." Luna spoke up, smiling. Serenity lifted her eyebrows.  
  
"I take it you are versed in the affairs of the neighbouring  
kingdom, Lady Luna?"  
  
"How could I not be? There are members of my family living   
there. They chose to leave, rather than become citizens of the new  
republic."  
  
"Was this how you garnered your information about the  
gathering, Lady Luna?" Usagi looked aside at her, archly.  
  
"It might have been." Luna smiled.  
  
"Enough of this." Serenity barked, then turned aside as she   
was handed a brief from one of her advisors. After a few seconds of   
reading, she handed it back. "This most certainly confirms your   
suspicions. There is a gathering taking place within that   
district."  
  
"My connection are rarely wrong." Luna nodded with   
satisfaction.  
  
"Indeed, Lady Luna. You warn us about this quite a while   
ago." Serenity sighed. "We should have listened to your reports a   
lot sooner."  
  
"Blame it on your staff." Luna smiled, waving a hand at the  
screen, dismissively. Rei was furious at the action.  
  
"You can't speak to the President in such a cavalier manner."  
  
"It might very well have been my manner that made them ignore   
my reports in the first place." Luna chuckled. "I can live with   
that. But it doesn't change the fact that there is more to this   
than merely a gathering of the forces of reality."  
  
Luna paced the floor, now with the collective gaze of Serenity   
and the trio firmly fixed on her. She smiled to herself, used to   
being the centre of attention.  
  
"The reason that Adam Jade has planned this gathering within  
the Nemesis Gate district has a lot to do with the fact that it IS  
the border post between the Republic and Beryl's Monarchy. We all  
know that Beryl has had territorial designs on the Republic for some  
time, now. There could be no more effective weapon to use against  
us than an organised uprising by those disaffected with out   
philosophies."  
  
"So, Adam Jade is merely a means to an end?" Ami questioned.  
Luna nodded.  
  
"It would not surprise me at all if Jade is part of Beryl's  
forces. He wouldn't be the first to try and infiltrate our   
society."  
  
"I seem to remember that the last one to cause damage to the   
Republic was a member of the aristocracy...." Usagi sneered at   
Luna. "At least, that was what everybody thought."  
  
Luna scowled. "His actions brought down the aristocracy,   
reducing our power and influence."  
  
"Something that you have been trying to make up for ever   
since." Usagi shook her head. "I wouldn't put it beyond you, Luna  
De Sade, to have arranged this entire gathering, yourself."  
  
"Usagi!" Rei and Ami chorused. Usagi turned away,   
unrepentant. Serenity decided it was time to step in.  
  
"Tsukino Usagi the Third!" Usagi turned and stood to   
attention at the stern tone of her President. "I do not care what  
bitterness has passed between yourself and the Lady, but you shall  
not allow it to affect this mission, do you understand?"  
  
"Yes, my President. I apologise." Usagi bowed, slightly.  
  
"There is no need to chastise her, President Serenity. Her  
feelings towards me are valid." Luna stepped forward, crossing her  
hands in front of her. "We have been involved, in the past, in   
some.... For want of a better name, messy operations. She is upset   
at having lost some of her friends in those operations."  
  
"Accepted, Lady Luna. However, since it was MY decision to  
put the pair of you together on this mission, you shall both push  
past hostilities aside for the sake of the Republic."  
  
"Yes, my President." Usagi and Luna said in unison.  
  
  
"Now, then...." Serenity continued. "I have planned a route  
by which you should be able to traverse in safety. It shall take  
you three days to get to Nemesis Gate. I suggest you all try to   
rest as much as possible, in which time you can study the map of the  
region and define the best possible way out of the district when you  
have completed the task...."  
  
----o  
  
Adam Jade sat in the small office he had commandeered for the  
gathering. Sunk into the deep folds of the vast black leather   
chair, fingers of both hands intertwined in front of his mouth in an   
expression of deep thought, he contemplated those who were passing   
his field of view, through the large open window that looked down   
upon the quadrangle below.  
  
He sighed. He hated what he was doing. At least, he hated  
these kind of people. Militarists.... Easy to manipulate.   
Stupidity made flesh. They would follow any moron for any cause.   
He just happened to be the latest model. And that was what he   
really hated about it all.  
  
They weren't following him because they were following HIM.  
Anybody with the gift of the gab could have worked them up as well  
as he had. No, he was not that important to these people. At   
least, not in his mind. But he never strayed very far down those  
lines of thought. Not that he didn't want to, but too much of that  
form of introspection created the kind of madness he found   
particularly distasteful, and he had always prided himself on his  
immense self-control.  
  
  
He stood from the chair and stared down at the rows of   
soldiers, hands now crossed behind his back. Hundreds of men and   
women, and not a neuron between them all.... No imagination. No   
imagination whatsoever! What a horrible fate for them to suffer.  
  
Instead of being artists, they were to suffer the indignity of  
being art. HIS art. At least, the kind of art that he now found   
himself to be a master....  
  
  
He shook his head. He had to learn to put aside his days as a  
member of the art set in the Republic. He had spent much of his   
life, trying to make it as a painter, and failed. What else was   
there for him to do but become a fascist dictator? He chuckled at  
his own black humour. Perhaps he should have been a comedian.  
  
There was still an opportunity.... To back out. To cease   
this stupidity, here and now. To try and finish a career that had  
struggled up to now.... A smile crossed his face. A dark smile   
that understood the private joke he was sharing with himself. Turn  
back? What a hopeless individual he was. It would mean admitting  
to himself that he was afraid of what he was doing, what he had   
created. No artiste should ever be afraid of their work. And he'd  
enjoyed, far far too much, the creation of this work. The little  
deals and compromises he'd had to make in the underworld of this   
society were something he had revelled in.  
  
And that was the crux of it all. He LIKED the idea of playing  
the political mastermind and dictator. He LIKED the shadowy worlds  
in which he'd travelled these past few years. He wanted for it to   
go on forever. But there was no real likelihood of that happening.  
  
For he knew the destiny of all dictators. It was because of  
people like that that the Republic had been formed. Artistes who   
had been equally proud in their tearing-down of the aristocracy.   
They weren't going to allow him to do the same.  
  
  
"Sir..." He turned to the woman's voice, with deliberate   
slowness. His secretary, Titus, stood in the doorway to the office,   
saluting him. He swallowed and nodded at her deference, feeling a   
nervous tightness building up in his chest at her presence. "It is   
time to address the first arrivals."  
  
"I'll be ready in a couple of minutes." Jade waved at her.   
He never liked the silky tone with which she would address him.   
Titus was different from all the others he had gathered. She DID   
have imagination. That was why he had made her his secretary, so he  
could keep a close eye on her activities. One never knew when one   
might become the victim of a less than supportive critic....  
  
"Yes sir." Titus nodded, sly smile on her face, and left the   
office, closing the door behind her. He let out a long sigh,   
relaxing slightly, picked up the cap that sat on his desk, put it   
on, steeled himself, reciting the words he would say to the gathering   
in his mind and stepped up to the office door....  
  
----o  
  
Four figures crouched on top of a building, overlooking the  
quadrangle within which the gathering of reality forces was taking  
place. The Republican operatives that went by the name of the   
Amazoness Quartet.  
  
All were dressed and kitted in much the same manner as the  
Death Sailors. However, the Amazoness Quartet weren't even close in  
attitude when it came to their work. In fact, they were the   
Republic's wild cards. It was visible even in the hairstyles they  
chose for themselves, and the adornments that they would attach to  
the bodysuits, overcoats and backpacks in their posession. They   
were as close to insane as anyone allowed to run around, free of   
authority, could be. And there were very good reasons for that.   
Reasons that only a very few knew or understood.  
  
  
Just the way they carried themselves whilst watching the   
quadrangle said everything about their attitude to their work.   
VesVes, the readheaded firebrand with her hair up in a standing   
tail, like a flare that had only just been fired, kept watch over   
the events.  
  
Her nervous tension was almost at breaking point as she   
variously peered through the binoculars and put them down to roll   
her fingers with anticipation, licking her lips. VesVes was already  
plotting a course of action, to take out the entire gathering in one  
fell swoop, in her mind. This was her area of expertise....   
Operational assessment and planning. Oh, and of course, she was a   
mean hand with a razored whip....  
  
After giggling inanely for a few moments, thinking of all the   
heads she'd lopped off with that whip, she glanced back at her   
compatriots.  
  
JunJun, who sat behind her, staring at the clouds as they flew   
by, her green hair tied up in a three-tail pattern, one up two down,   
with the top knot in triple braids, was completely unfazed by the   
situation. In fact, she looked a little bored. There was nothing   
she could have done to annoy VesVes more.  
  
"Mooouuuu! What is wrong with you?" She pointed at JunJun   
with the binoculars. JunJun gave her an imperious gaze, then lay   
her head back once more, a slight smile on her face. "You just   
can't appreciate the importance of these moments, you know that?"   
VesVes crossed her arms and huffed.  
  
"Has there been any change in what the extremists are doing?   
Any sign that they've detected our presence, or are about to launch   
some attack on helpless civilians?" JunJun sniffed with patent   
disinterest, her tone when describing the 'helpless civilians'   
tinged with anything but concern. VesVes decided to brief her on   
what she was seeing, even though she knew JunJun could have given a  
stuff, anyway.  
  
"I think Jade is getting ready to make his first declaration."  
She shook her head, making the large pigtail jiggle about. She   
simply couldn't understand her partner's lack of enthusiasm for what   
was about to happen. "You know, big historical speech and all.   
We're about to witness a moment that will go down in all the record  
books as a turning point in the history of the Republic and all.   
Not that that matters, and all...."  
  
"Ho hum." JunJun turned and looked at VesVes. "Does that   
mean we'll have an opportunity to take him out before those Death   
Sailors get to him?"  
  
  
"I do not think that that would be a very wise decision. At   
least, not being as close to the gathering as we are." VesVes and  
JunJun turned and looked up at the standing figure of CereCere, her  
pink hair turned into circular tubing that smacked of spaghetti   
architecture, something that she was justifiably proud of. It   
encircled her head like a decorative crown that spoke volumes of her   
personality.   
  
In some ways, she was the leader of the Quartet, but she was   
without the air of authority that it required to lead such a group.   
When she spoke, her hands were crossed in front of her, and her   
voice was soft and delicate, her words measured and well thought   
out. Indeed, she seemed completely unsuited to the lifestyle in   
which the Quartet found themselves. A mistake more than one of her  
victims had discovered altogether too late.  
  
"PallaPalla wanna throw a grenade at them." The last of the  
four pulled a large object from her backpack, which she then   
proceeded to detach from its casing. Her short blue hair, lined   
with bolas that bore astrange resemblance to a merry go round, shook   
as she excitedly held up the grenade to the others, her eyes   
sparkling with love for this most treasured of toys. A large   
sweatdrop ran down the side of CereCere's head as she watched   
PallaPalla run her hands across the egg-shaped object.  
  
"I do not think that would be a very wise decision, either."  
CereCere wagged a finger at PallaPalla, who screwed up her nose in  
disappointment.  
  
"Aww.... PallaPalla wanna blow up people. PallaPalla likes  
blowing up people. It's fun." There was no doubt, in her words,   
the game-like attitude to which she considered their occupation.   
Something the others had long clued about her and equally tried to  
stop. There simply was no point, PallaPalla was not going to get   
any better.  
  
"You can play your games later." JunJun sniffed and turned  
back to VesVes, who was gesticulating wildly as she peered through  
her binoculars. "Now what's up with you? Not getting enough   
caffeine in our diet, or something?"  
  
"He's there! He's there, I tell you!" VesVes whispered   
excitedly. "Jade's taking his place on the central platform." They   
could hear the distant roar of the gathering as they gave a cheer   
for Jade's appearance. VesVes gave her own brand of non-verbal   
salute to him as he waved to the crowd.  
  
  
The other three almost bundled her out of the way to get a   
glimpse, much to her annoyance as she landed on her butt, pulling   
their own binoculars from their backpacks.  
  
"Hmm.... He doesn't look like much to me." JunJun shrugged.  
"I can't see what Serenity is so worked up about."  
  
"He is very handsome, and he has an excellent speaking voice.  
It is the mastery of the two elements that makes him such a threat."  
CereCere pointed out, waving a finger in the air.  
  
"PallaPalla wanna blow him up." She juggled the grenade in   
one of her hands, grinning like a Cheshire Cat.  
  
"Ano... I don't think that's a very good idea..." VesVes,  
afyter having lifted herself to her knees, grabbed the grenade in   
mid-air and very carefully placed it back in its carry case, much  
to PallaPalla's discontent.  
  
"Aww... VesVes is being cruel to me." PallaPalla started to  
cry, volumes of tears flying out of the corners of her eyes.  
  
  
  
JunJun and CereCere facefaulted, dropping their binoculars.   
"Honestly...." JunJun shook her head. "Here, play with this."  
  
JunJun handed PallaPalla a small, well punctured cotton doll.  
"Wai! My Daddy Doll.... PallaPalla loves her Daddy Doll."   
PallaPalla grabbed the doll and stepped aside, pulling a large, evil  
looking needle from her overcoat. "PallaPalla stab Daddy Doll."   
And thus she began to skewer the doll with much joy.  
  
  
CereCere and VesVes looked at JunJun strangely. She just   
shrugged. "Don't blame me. It's a kind of Oedipus Complex. Her  
father used to nail her to the kitchen wall as a statement of   
individuality...."  
  
The irony of the statement was not lost on them. Father?   
None of them had such a person.  
  
  
After several moments, the remaining three stepped away from   
the side of the building, growing tired of watching Jade mouthing   
his speech without hearing what he had to say.  
  
"Damn, I wish we had the high tech equipment some of the other  
operatives have." VesVes punched a fist in the palm of her other   
hand.  
  
"They wouldn't trust is with it, dearie." JunJun shrugged.   
"So, what do we do?"  
  
"I dare suggest...." CereCere began. "That we wait and see  
what the Death Sailors have up their sleeve before we make our   
move."  
  
"PallaPalla stab and stab and stab her daddy doll. PallaPalla  
loves stabbing her daddy doll...." PallaPalla held the doll up in   
the air as the other three facefaulted.  
  
"Maybe we should just send her in instead?" JunJun shook her   
head and rested herself back against her backpack.  
  
----o  
  
"So, the Amazoness Quartet are in on this as well...." Rei  
rubbed her chin, smiling thoughtfully as she sat on the middle of   
the safe house floor, opposite Luna.  
  
"Indeed. With something this big, that group of lunatics were  
bound to be attracted." Luna nodded and turned to Ami and Usagi,   
who were pouring over the diagram of the Nemesis Gate and   
surrounding districts. "Like flies to a carcass...."  
  
"We could do without them." Usagi muttered, grumpily. "We'll  
have a hard enough time traversing some of the gullies between the  
Vermion Lock and Nemesis Gate without their butting into our   
business."  
  
Ami nodded. "The parkland gully between the eastern border of  
Vermion Lock and Nemesis Gate is immense. We'd never be able to get  
across that without being spotted."  
  
"Then I dare suggest we disguise ourselves as part of the   
festival celebrations that are going on there at the time." Luna  
wagged a finger at the pair. "I'm sure you're all quite capable of  
fitting in with the arts set again. It might even bring back old   
memories...."  
  
"Thanks but no thanks. Old memories are something I'd rather  
do without." Usagi huffed and threw her nose in the air, obviously  
ending the discussion there. Luna shook her head and turned back to  
Rei.  
  
  
"How are they allowed to just run around the way they do?"   
Rei scratched her head. "And they get away with it with their   
lives, too. It's almost inhuman."  
  
"Who?" Luna blinked.  
  
"The Quartet. That pack of psycho bitches." Rei crossed her  
arms, closing her eyes with annoyance.  
  
"Well, it has a lot to do with their backgrounds...." Luna   
cleared her throat. "They're.... not quite the same as the rest of  
us...."  
  
"What do you mean by that?" Rei gave Luna a strange  
expression. Luna cleared her throat and wondered how she could   
explain what she knew about the Quartet....  
  
"Well.... It's hard to say.... You were quite right by   
describing them as inhuman. They're not, so to speak."  
  
"They're not what?"  
  
"Human. Not as you or I would understand the term...."  
  
"What do you mean by that?" Rei frowned as Luna fumbled for  
words. Within seconds, all were lying on the floor after the   
building had shaken. The rumbling noise of an explosion echoing   
throughout the city.  
  
Rei was the first to her feet. "What in hell was that?"  
  
  
END OF PART 3   
  
--------------------------------------------------------------------  
  
ACROSS THE BORDER  
  
  
In the heat of the day  
Many miles away when the  
Sun is beating downthe main street.  
I'll be waiting at the station,  
I gotta move down the line.  
  
They'll be dancing and singin'  
And doin' their thing  
And they'll be rockin' and rollin'  
Until the day is done.  
You know I've got to  
Make the deadline-  
  
I gotta get that southbound train tonight-  
If I don't get to the border then I'll write.  
  
The Mardis Gras  
Will be blowing strong  
And the people dancing  
All across the city  
I'm leavin' here tonight  
I gotta move down the line.  
  
I'm gonna catch a ride  
On the 9.05  
I'm gonna ride the rails  
Until we reach the morning,  
Maybe three or four  
Hundred miles.  
  
I gotta get that southbound train tonight-  
If I don't get to the border then I'll write.  
  
When the wind is blowing  
Softly throught the streets  
of a little town  
And the music's playin',  
You're waitin' somewhere  
Over the horizon.  
  
I gotta get that southbound train tonight-  
If I don't get to the border then I'll write.  
  
  
-Jeff Lynne-  
  
--------------------------------------------------------------------  
  
Next Chapter - "Open Invitation"  
  
I thought it best to rewrite the original chapter 2 of AtB....  
There were many elements that my friend and sometime co-writer, who  
prefers to go by the title of "Night Rider" (for no visibly apparent  
reason. Well, not visible to me, anyway) wanted to see put into  
this story that seemed to be workable that I decided it prudent to  
do so. Of course, this virtually doubled the length of chapter 2,  
so it is now chapters 2 and 3.  
  
This makes the story a tad more wordy, with less in the way of  
action, but I'm a writer who tends to dwell on the little things  
that make each character what they are.  
  
Anyway, enough of these notes. PallaPalla is tugging on my sleeve,  
wanting to know when she gets to blow someone up. I should get on  
with chapter 4.... ^_^  
  
DDFA (The Right Dishonourable Mark A Page) ayanami@internode.on.net  
  
Version 2.0 - 22nd Jun 1998 


	4. Across the Border part 4: Open Invitatio...

Version 1.0 - 13th Jul 1998  
  
--------------------------------------------------------------------  
  
B I S H O U J O S E N S H I S A I L O R M O O N  
  
A C R O S S T H E B O R D E R  
  
by DARK DAY FOR ANIME (Mark A Page)  
  
--------------------------------------------------------------------  
  
Disclaimer - This is a story containing characters who were created  
by anyone but me. That anyone would happen to be Takeuchi Naoko.  
  
Handle it.  
  
--------------------------------------------------------------------  
  
W H A T H A S G O N E B E F O R E  
  
The DEATH SAILORS, TSUKINO USAGI III, HINO REI JNR and PROFESSOR   
MIZUNO AMI, operatives of PRESIDENT SERENITY and the REPUBLIC  
OF SURREALISM, have survived what is, for them, a dangerous trek   
through their capital city, even if a very short one. Enemies lie  
in wait at every turn, ready to kill them, and their only hope is to  
reach the prepared safe houses that dot the capital.  
  
Surving this ordeal, they began a debriefing session with their   
President when the LADY LUNA DE SADE makes an appearance. Luna is  
to be their guide throughout the region known as NEMESIS GATE, where  
their next target, the Reality Extremist leader, ADAM JADE, is   
planning to gather together all the terrorist groups dedicated to   
the cause of reality.  
  
The relationship between Lady Luna and Usagi is exposed to be less   
than friendly, even though Luna had saved Usagi from death in the   
past after a terrorist bomb had killed her family. It is obvious  
that Usagi still feels a sense of shame in not having died with her  
family, and is taking it out that shame on Luna.  
  
Meanwhile, overlooking the scene of Jade's gathering are the   
AMAZONESS QUARTET.... Four rogues within the Republic's operative  
network. Luna tells the Death Sailors about the Quartet, and they  
are less than impressed by the thought that they may have to work  
alongside, or worse, in opposition to the four, in the effort to  
kill Jade.  
  
But before Luna can say more....  
  
--------------------------------------------------------------------  
  
Rei stared up at her grandfather as they watched, from the top  
of the Marques Building, the bonfires and fireworks that signified   
the end of the Festival of Ephis for another year.  
  
"Ojichan...." Rei tugged on his coat tail. He looked down at  
her, raising an eyebrow, quizzically.  
  
"What is it, child?"  
  
"Why do we go out and destroy so much?"  
  
"Hmm?"  
  
"Our expeditions.... Into the streets. We blow up things and  
such.... Why do we do this?"  
  
Her grandfather smiled and knelt down to the five year old,   
thinking deeply about how he would answer this question. "Rei-  
chan... Being so young, you may not understand. We only get so   
many years of life, into which we must pack a myriad of experiences,  
and make some kind of impact on the world. And yet, there are so   
many voices, crying out to be heard...."  
  
Rei nodded, still not quite understanding his words, but   
willing to listen. He nodded, knowingly.  
  
"All these voices, Rei-chan. All of them, trying to make a  
statement.... Of belief. Of ideology. But most of all, trying to  
get people to LISTEN. What better way to make people listen than to  
impose yourself upon them in as dramatic a manner as possible...."  
  
"But would they listen to us?"  
  
"Eh?"  
  
"It just sorta seems that.... Y'know.... If we do bad   
things, then they'd be too angry to listen."  
  
He chuckled and put his hands on her shoulders. "Oh, my   
child. You speak with the voice of guiless youth.... You don't  
understand the complexity of the adult mind, yet.... One day, you  
shall see that what I say is the truth."  
  
"The truth?"  
  
He picked her up and sat her on his shoulder, standing tall as  
fireworks exploded above them. Rei stared at the glimmering lights,  
set upon the black veil of night.  
  
"That is what this festival is about, Rei-chan. To celebrate  
the thoughts and feelings of Montxo Ephis.... The founder of the  
ideology by which we follow." Her grandfather shouted over the  
explosions. "One day, you shall make as great an impact, in your  
own way...."  
  
----o  
  
"How are they allowed to just run around the way they do?"   
Rei scratched her head. "And they get away with it with their   
lives, too. It's almost inhuman."  
  
"Who?" Luna blinked.  
  
"The Quartet. That pack of psycho bitches." Rei crossed her  
arms, closing her eyes with annoyance.  
  
"Well, it has a lot to do with their backgrounds...." Luna   
cleared her throat. "They're.... not quite the same as the rest of  
us...."  
  
"What do you mean by that?" Rei gave Luna a strange  
expression. Luna cleared her throat and wondered how she could   
explain what she knew about the Quartet....  
  
"Well.... It's hard to say.... You were quite right by   
describing them as inhuman. They're not, so to speak."  
  
"They're not what?"  
  
"Human. Not as you or I would understand the term...."  
  
"What do you mean by that?" Rei frowned as Luna fumbled for  
words. Within seconds, all were lying on the floor after the   
building had shaken. The rumbling noise of an explosion echoing   
throughout the city.  
  
  
Rei was the first to her feet. "What in hell was that?"  
  
----o  
  
Part Four  
Open Invitation  
  
----o  
  
"It's a car bomb." Ami gasped. "At the base of the   
building."  
  
"They're trying to draw the local authorities into our   
battle?" Luna stared, disbelievingly at the smoking wreck, sitting   
on a grass verge on the southern side of the old school building.  
  
"So?" Rei blinked, not understanding as she pushed Ami aside   
to get a better look through the window.  
  
"Baka! The authorities shall search the building for the   
perpetrators. It's standard procedure." Luna replied, haughtily.  
  
"And they'll find the safe house.... Or its security system."  
Ami nodded, grimly.  
  
Rei's mouth hung open. "And if the security system goes   
off.... killing members of the constabulary..."  
  
"They'll certainly think we were involved." Luna finished.  
  
"And if we shut off the security system, this shall, no   
longer, be a safe house. Not for us, anyway." Usagi turned from   
the window and ran over to where her backpack and coat were sitting,  
against the far wall of the room. Luna watched her.  
  
"What are you thinking of doing?"  
  
"Scuttling the safe house. It's the only way to make sure the  
constabulary who arrive aren't hurt." Usagi threw on her overcoat   
and started to hitch some of her weaponry to their attachments   
underneath. Luna spun to her and stepped forward.  
  
"Scuttle the safe house? You must be mad. That's just what   
the assassins are hoping we'd do.... Burn our nest and run."  
  
"Then I don't intend to disappoint them." Usagi shot Luna a  
withering look. "Anyway, we can't allow the constabulary and the   
local authorities to get mixed up in our activities, and I'm damned  
if I'm going to allow the Amazons to have Jade."  
  
"She's right." Ami nodded. "It's the most logical thing to   
do." And with that, Ami started following Usagi's example, readying  
her own equipment for a quick evacuation.  
  
"But there isn't another safe house ready for us." Rei   
gestured, helplessly. "And anyway, this kind of thing has happened  
before...."  
  
"This is different, Rei." Usagi pulled the collars of her   
overcoat firmly, assuring herself everything was in place.  
  
"In what way?" Rei stepped past Luna, seemingly keen to argue  
the point with Usagi.  
  
"It's because of the festival." Usagi turned and picked up   
her backpack, throwing the restraints over her shoulder.  
  
"What festival?" Luna frowned.  
  
"Of course!" Rei punched a fist in her other hand. "The   
Festival of Ephis.... It's within the parkland border of Vermion   
Lock.... There will be constabulary on alert throughout the city."  
  
"Their reaction time to this will be halved, if not quartered.  
Often, this kind of thing is seen by the authorities as a form of  
artistic expression.... That's how a lot of terrorist activity has  
been given a free reign.... Artistic expressionism through   
bombings, riots and lootings." Usagi tightened the straps of her  
backpack. "But not during the Festival of Ephis.... It represents  
all aspects of counter culture, some of it quite violent and   
reprehensible."  
  
"I understand that well enough." Rei nodded, now following   
her partners' examples with her own equipment. "I was brought up  
within such groups."  
  
"And as such, you'll understand how keen, during the weeks of  
the festival, the authorities will be to keep things under wraps."   
Usagi smiled, grimly.  
  
Luna put a hand to her forehead. "The cheers that rose up   
when you detonated the mines on top of this building...." She   
sighed, looking up at Usagi. "There wasn't the smoking remains for  
the constabulary to home in on, so they wouldn't have been able to  
track down the source of the blast...."  
  
"But the burning remains of a car bomb is a very different  
matter." Usagi put her hands on her hips. "Don't you think you  
should get yourself prepared to run or die, LADY Luna?" Usagi threw  
her nose in the air, arrogantly.  
  
"That's not really the point...." Luna protested. "It's one  
thing to cut and run, but we have no set destination to run to.   
Nowhere that is safe, anyway."  
  
"Oh yes we have." Rei smiled as she helped Ami secure her  
backpack.  
  
"What?" Luna blinked. "Where?"  
  
"The parkland border of Vermion Lock."  
  
"You must be joking.... We won't be able to reach that far by  
foot.... Not in safety, anyway. And besides, the festivities that   
are occuring there.... There could be any number of terrorists   
amongst the crowd."  
  
"Listen.... Firstly, there IS a way we can reach the border  
without the necessity to traverse the city streets.... Well, not   
ALL of the streets, anyway." Rei swallowed, her mind rapidly   
mapping out an evacuation plan, and attempting to make it sound  
convincing to the others. "Secondly, the parkland border IS full of  
people, right now.... Full of people in DISGUISE.... Costumes and  
such are a major facet of the festivities...."  
  
"We can disguise ourselves, in an attempt to cross the   
border." Ami nodded.  
  
"But first, we still have to get there." Luna crossed her   
arms, then jumped as Usagi threw her overcoat over her shoulders.  
  
"Well, why don't you just shutup and listen to Rei's plan,   
there's a good kitty...." Usagi sneered at Luna's expression of  
contempt.  
  
----o  
  
Detern, the leader of the Realist force's 34th operations   
squad, crouched in the small room within the apartment block, some   
short distance south of the safe house in the old school building.  
  
Placed on watch duty, again. Punishment from on high for not  
always following the orders of THEY WHO MUST BE OBEYED. There were  
times when even he questioned whether the Realists really had all   
that much going for them.  
  
But then, Detern was neither the brightest, nor the most   
imaginative, person within the Realist forces. He was unlikely to  
change his lifestyle, rapidly.  
  
He watched the movement within the safe house through the   
large window, and listened to the crackle of information, beamed  
through his radio, from his comrades, who were moving in on the safe  
house through the lower levels of the school building. After   
watching them place and set off the car bomb, he wondered when he  
would get his chance to have some fun.  
  
It started a lot sooner than he expected. The safe house  
exploded in an immense ball of flame, blasting debris across the gap  
between the buildings. Detern only just managed to duck in time as  
the force of the blast shattered the window, through which he was   
watching, into tiny fragments, scattering across the room.  
  
  
As he lifted his head, he heard cries of distress and calls   
for backup coming from those within the lower levels of the   
school.... It seemed the Death Sailors had chosen to make their   
move a lot sooner than the Realists had expected.  
  
Detern peered through the now-empty window ledge at the ground  
below, and spotted some figures, fleeing the building at great   
speed.  
  
"Damn bitches...." He muttered to himself, and picked up his  
rifle, which had been sitting next to him. He watched as they   
opened up a manhole in the ground, not far from where the burning  
wreckage of the carbomb was sitting. "Dammit.... They're making   
for the sewer system...." Detern jumped to his feet and ran from   
the room.  
  
----o  
  
"This is, like, totally uncouth." Luna landed at the base of  
the metal stairs on the brick-lined floor of the sewer. The large   
tunnel that she had found herself in seemed to go on forever,   
disappearing into the darkness in both directions. It was big   
enough to run a vehicle through, which was what had happened in days   
gone past, during the sewer network's construction. "What, in the   
name of the republic, made you think of using the sewers as a viable   
method of escape?"  
  
"Lateral thinking." Rei peered down as she pulled the manhole  
cover back into place, attaching something to it before handing   
Luna's backpack down the ladder to Ami. "The sewers were there, so   
I thought to myself 'let's use them'."  
  
"The smell in here is godawful..." Usagi turned up her nose.  
"We'll probably be on antibiotics for months after wading through  
this sludge."  
  
"Suffer, pleb." Rei and Ami stepped down from the ladder and  
reattached their backpacks, removed in an effort to get through the  
manhole. "I know my way through these tunnels like the back of my  
hand."  
  
"Yes.... I can see it's just the kind of place you'd hand  
around." Usagi's eyebrows jerked in Rei's direction, who stuck out  
her tongue at her partner.  
  
"We better get moving." Ami said, quietly, as she helped Luna  
with her backpack. "Some of the operatives will have seen us come   
down here."  
  
Usagi wiped her hand on the side of her overcoat when she   
noticed it was covered in blood. "Fortunately, not those within the  
safe house building."  
  
"Feeling happy about tearing that soldier's skull open with   
your bare hand, Usagi?" Luna sniffed contemptuously, taking note of  
Usagi's almost unconcious action.  
  
"I do what I have to do, LADY Luna. This isn't a game."   
Usagi pulled a large torch from her jacket and shone it along the  
tunnel.  
  
"No. To you, I suppose it isn't." Luna replied, softly as  
they started to make their way along the sewer, Rei taking the lead.  
  
----o  
  
Detern was at the main doorway to the apartment block when he  
saw three of his comrades, attempting to open the manhole cover.  
  
"WAIT! DON'T DO THA...." His cry came a few seconds too late  
as the manhole exploded in a ball of flame, enveloping the soldiers.  
Detern fell flat on his back as he felt the warmth of the blast rush  
over him....  
  
----o  
  
The explosion echoed through the tunnels, followed by a gust   
of warm wind that gave the four cause to grab hold of the brickwork   
on the sides of the sewer.  
  
"Great, Rei.... You could have at least warned us about that  
mine you planted on the manhole cover." Usagi gritted her teeth.   
"I'm gonna be deaf for weeks, now...."  
  
"You SAW me put the bloody thing on, you fool...." Rei   
growled, grabbing her partner by the collar. "Come on.... That  
won't hold off those bastards for long...."  
  
----o  
  
Detern wandered, almost emotionlessly, up to the large hole in   
the ground where his comrades once stood. He could clearly see into  
the sewer below, although much of the brickwork and earth that had   
once sat there was now piled on the floor.  
  
He looked around, hoping at least one of his comrades were   
still alive, and making their way to join him right now. he saw   
nobody. Either the rest had taken flight, or they really were all  
dead.  
  
With a sigh, he clutched his rifle with both of his hands and  
leapt onto the pile of rubble on the floor of the sewer. Not the   
smartest move he could have made, as his foot slipped on a rock.  
  
With a short cry of surprise, he pitched forward and rolled  
down the mound of rubble, coming to a quick stop at the base as his  
chin hit the tunnel floor.  
  
Ouch, he thought, as he picked himself up.  
  
----o  
  
The tunnel eventually reached a larger passage.... Newer and  
cleaner, with smooth cement walls. At the floor of the new passage  
was a gentle stream of relatively clean water, about half a foot   
deep. Rei stepped into the stream and stared along the passage,   
both ways.  
  
"Where are we?" Ami asked as she stopped at the junction.  
  
"This is the main waterway that leads from the eastern   
districts to the water processing plant at Mulwin Head. It used to  
be an underground stream."  
  
"The eastern districts including Vermion Lock and Nemesis   
Gate...." Ami chuckled. "I had an inkling that might have been   
your intention...."  
  
"You seem to know a lot about these tunnels." Luna raised an  
eyebrow, appreciatively.  
  
"I told you, I know them like the back of my hand."  
  
"How?" Luna followed Rei into the stream, looking down at the  
water with distaste.  
  
"When I was young, and still living with my grandfather, the  
groups we were a part of used the sewer systems as a method of   
escape from the constabulary, after we would make some   
pseudopolitical statement.... Usually involving much violence."  
  
"Montxo Ephis.... He was a founding member of the group you  
were brought up in, wasn't he?" Usagi flashed her torch along the  
passage.  
  
"Yes.... Yes, he was."  
  
"And he espoused the philosophy of extreme violence as an   
artistic statement...." Usagi chuckled. "You know, it just occured  
to me.... If Jade was a true artist, in the style of Ephis, then   
this whole idea, of rounding up the reality militias into one   
cohesive group, then setting them on the republic, could be his   
greatest artistic statement...."  
  
"My God...." Rei put a hand to her mouth. "The Festival of  
Ephis reaches its high point in four days.... Absolution Day...."  
  
"Indeed." Usagi nodded. "There would be no more symbolic an  
occasion for the reality militias to make their move than on that  
day...."  
  
  
"Shh..." Ami put up a hand to silence the others. They   
looked at her, quizzically.  
  
"What is...." Usagi began, but Ami simply hushed her again.  
After a few seconds of silence, they could hear footsteps, coming   
down the tunnel.  
  
Ami snapped her fingers and pointed upstream of the new   
passage. Rei nodded and gripped Luna's arm. The pair quickly put  
some distance between themselves and the junction.  
  
  
Ami pulled out a small device from her backpack, like a pair  
of disks, connected via a string. Usagi kept watch, nervously, as  
Ami attached one of the disks to one side of the tunnel.  
  
"Do you really think a tripwire mine is going to work?" Usagi  
whispered. "They surely won't be that stupid."  
  
"That's why I'm expecting you to shoot them if it doesn't."   
Ami replied as she pulled out the wire far enough to be taut, across  
the exit of the tunnel, and attached the other disk to the opposite  
wall.  
  
"Great. Great plan. I'm glad you're the brains of our little  
party."  
  
"And don't you forget it." Ami stood and smiled at Usagi,   
grabbing her partner by the arm and pointing at a small depression   
in the passage wall, some distance away.  
  
  
The pair waded their way towards the depression, removing   
their backpacks so they could press themselves back against the wall  
as much as possible, to present as little a target as they could.  
  
They waited, nervously peering around the corner as the sound  
of the footsteps came closer and closer.  
  
Whoever it was HAD to have reached the junction, because the  
footsteps came to a dead stop. There was an almost intolerable   
pause, in which all that could be heard was the sound of running   
water. Usagi pulled out her double barrelled revolver from within  
her overcoat as Ami fidgeted with a small device she pulled from her  
pocket.  
  
"You must think I'm stupid..." Came Detern's voice, as he   
leaned against the wall of the tunnel, glancing down at the tripwire  
mine. "A trap that obvious.... Even I could see it coming."  
  
  
Usagi swallowed and ducked out from the depression, firing a  
double round into the opposite wall of the tunnel. The shot   
ricocheted off the wall and missed Detern's head my inches. He  
nervously stared at the mark in the wall where the bullet had   
struck, swallowing.  
  
"That didn't work either...."  
  
"This will, though..." Ami smiled and pressed a button on the  
device.  
  
The mines went off, blowing Detern back along the tunnel for  
some distance, stunned, with shrapnel wounds in his legs. The roof  
caved in on the junction, and dust filled the passage.  
  
As it cleared, Usagi looked back at Ami, who was pocketing the  
small device with a smile on her face.  
  
"Don't tell me.... The trip wire was a dummy, right?"  
  
"Oh come on.... You know me better than that." Ami picked up   
her backpack and started after Rei and Luna, her back receiving dark  
looks from Usagi....  
  
--------------------------------------------------------------------  
  
ACROSS THE BORDER  
  
  
In the heat of the day  
Many miles away when the  
Sun is beating downthe main street.  
I'll be waiting at the station,  
I gotta move down the line.  
  
They'll be dancing and singin'  
And doin' their thing  
And they'll be rockin' and rollin'  
Until the day is done.  
You know I've got to  
Make the deadline-  
  
I gotta get that southbound train tonight-  
If I don't get to the border then I'll write.  
  
The Mardis Gras  
Will be blowing strong  
And the people dancing  
All across the city  
I'm leavin' here tonight  
I gotta move down the line.  
  
I'm gonna catch a ride  
On the 9.05  
I'm gonna ride the rails  
Until we reach the morning,  
Maybe three or four  
Hundred miles.  
  
I gotta get that southbound train tonight-  
If I don't get to the border then I'll write.  
  
When the wind is blowing  
Softly throught the streets  
of a little town  
And the music's playin',  
You're waitin' somewhere  
Over the horizon.  
  
I gotta get that southbound train tonight-  
If I don't get to the border then I'll write.  
  
  
-Jeff Lynne-  
  
--------------------------------------------------------------------  
  
Next Chapter - "Delicate Dance of Death"  
  
_________  
/ @ \ DDFA (The Right Dishonourable Mark A Page)  
/ / ^ ^ \ \ ayanami@internode.on.net  
/\  
\/ \/  
\___________/  
/_/ \_\ PU 


	5. Across the Border part 5: Delicate Dance...

Version 1.0 - 19th Jul 1998  
  
--------------------------------------------------------------------  
  
B I S H O U J O S E N S H I S A I L O R M O O N  
  
A C R O S S T H E B O R D E R  
  
by DARK DAY FOR ANIME (Mark A Page)  
  
--------------------------------------------------------------------  
  
Disclaimer - This is a story containing characters who were created  
by anyone but me. That anyone would happen to be Takeuchi Naoko.  
  
Handle it.  
  
--------------------------------------------------------------------  
  
W H A T H A S G O N E B E F O R E  
  
The DEATH SAILORS, TSUKINO USAGI III, HINO REI JNR and PROFESSOR   
MIZUNO AMI, operatives of PRESIDENT SERENITY and the REPUBLIC  
OF SURREALISM, have survived what is, for them, a dangerous trek   
through their capital city, even if a very short one. Enemies lie  
in wait at every turn, ready to kill them, and their only hope is to  
reach the prepared safe houses that dot the capital.  
  
Surving such an ordeal, they began a debriefing session with their   
President when the LADY LUNA DE SADE makes an appearance. Luna is  
to be their guide throughout the region known as NEMESIS GATE, where  
their next target, the Reality Extremist leader, ADAM JADE, is   
planning to gather together all the terrorist groups dedicated to   
the cause of reality.  
  
The relationship between Lady Luna and Usagi is exposed to be less   
than friendly, even though Luna had saved Usagi from death in the   
past after a terrorist bomb had killed her family. It is obvious  
that Usagi still feels a sense of shame in not having died with her  
family, and is taking out that shame on Luna.  
  
Meanwhile, overlooking the scene of Jade's gathering are the   
AMAZONESS QUARTET.... Four rogues within the Republic's operative  
network. Luna tells the Death Sailors about the Quartet, and they  
are less than impressed by the thought that they may have to work  
alongside, or worse, in opposition to the four, in the effort to  
kill Jade.  
  
Luna also intimates that there is something about the Quartet that  
makes them not quite as human as they appear to be. But before they  
can discuss the matter further, Realist terrorists, who have been  
watching the safe house, explode a car bomb outside in the hope of  
drawing in the local constabulary.  
  
Knowing that any search by the constabulary may eventuate with them  
getting hurt by the safe house's electronic defenses, Lady Luna and  
the Death Sailors scuttle their sanctuary and make a head on attack  
on the Realists, escaping into the sewer system.  
  
A single Realist soldier, by the name of DETERN, has pursued them   
into the sewers, and has managed to catch up with them....  
  
--------------------------------------------------------------------  
  
  
"You must think I'm stupid..." Came Detern's voice, as he   
leaned against the wall of the tunnel, glancing down at the tripwire  
mine that Ami had set, lit by his service torch. "A trap that   
obvious.... Even I could see it coming."  
  
"Even I could see it coming." Ami whispered in a mocking   
tone. "Does he realise he's putting himself down?"  
  
"Oh be quiet, you fool...." Usagi hissed back, nervously.   
Ami shrugged and lifted up the small device she had taken from her  
overcoat, thumbing the single orange button that sat within its  
curved black plastic with an almost fetishist attraction.  
  
Ignoring her, Usagi swallowed, and jumped out from the   
depression in the sewer wall she and Ami had been hiding behind,   
firing a round from her double-barrelled revolver into the opposite   
wall of the junction, around which Detern was hiding.   
  
The shot ricocheted off the wall and missed his head by   
inches, ricocheting from there, down the older sewer branch. He   
nervously stared at the mark in the wall where the bullet had   
struck, swallowing, then turned and watched as the sparks flew from   
the shot's zigzag journey.  
  
Shivering, Detern turned back, his next few words said in a  
quavering tone. "That didn't work either...." He lifted up his  
rifle as he heard Usagi duck back behind the corner of the   
depression.  
  
Ami watched as Usagi shivered, clutching onto her revolver as  
if it were her lifeline. "Jeez, I hate these close fights...." The  
blond swallowed, closing her eyes, momentarily. She then turned to  
Ami and grimaced. "You hear him? 'That didn't work either', he   
says...."  
  
Ami shook her head. "This will, though..." She smiled and   
pressed the button on the device.  
  
The mines went off, blowing Detern back along the sewer tunnel   
for some distance, with shrapnel wounds to his legs. He let out a   
short shriek of shock and pain, falling dazed onto the bricked floor   
of the sewer, his torch and rifle clattering to the floor beside   
him.  
  
He only just managed to lift his head in time to see the roof   
cave in on the junction. Dust filled the passage, making it   
impossible to see anything, the light cast by the torch smothered,  
matching the darkness that overcame his senses as shock set in....  
  
  
  
As the dust cleared on the other side of the cave in, Usagi   
looked back at Ami, who was pocketing the small device with a wry   
smile on her face.  
  
"Don't tell me.... The trip wire was a dummy, right?" Usagi  
replaced her revolver back in her overcoat as the realisation hit   
her that Ami had been having a lend of her.  
  
"Oh come on...." Ami giggled. "You know me better than that."   
  
Ami picked up her backpack and started after Rei and Luna, who   
could still be seen some short distance along the tunnel, her back   
receiving some very dark looks from Usagi....  
  
----o  
  
Part Five  
Delicate Dance of Death  
  
----o  
  
Jade smiled as he stepped through the foyer of his stronghold,  
flanked by his personal bodyguard and several senior members of his  
militia, all smiling and applauding his recent speech with much   
appreciation.  
  
He smiled back and acknowledged the applause with nods,   
knowing, deep down, that they were doing nothing more than trying to  
stay in his good books.... Maybe even, hopefully, catch his eye....  
Increase the power of their own positions within the militia   
establishment. He knew all this, and didn't care. The sounds of   
the cheering multitudes, outside, were enough to drown out the   
cynicism in his heart.  
  
He had crafted his art well, preaching the half-truths and   
pseudopolitical babble that came with the terrirory of being so high  
up in an organisation like the Reality Militia. He told then what   
they wanted to hear.... Or what they THOUGHT they wanted to hear,   
for they had no minds or will of their own.... He loved the   
applause he received from them, yet despised them for being so easy   
to control, to be so deeply unimaginative....  
  
They were tools, he had to keep reminding himself.... It was  
a bad craftsman who blamed his tools for his unhappiness.... Or   
something like that. He chuckled as he, once more, entered his   
office, sighing as he saw Titus, waiting for him.  
  
He turned to his bodyguard and nodded to him purposely. The  
tall, broad shouldered young man looked down at him, coldly, and   
nodded back, shutting the door on the milling crowd, outside the   
office and standing guard. Nobody was going to disturb Jade's   
musings, today. Nobody, that was, except Titus.  
  
"I take it you have information for me? Otherwise, you're  
a lot smarter than to be waiting for me in my office after such a  
raging success." Jade said, finally, after contemplating the silent  
woman, clutching her checkboard with a thoughtful expression.  
  
"Yes, and it is not good news." She simpered. The voice sent  
shivers down Jade's spine. There were moments where he really   
believed she had something for him.... Where her tone and   
expression would become suggestive. The very thought of someone   
like her having such expressions of preference.... He took a breath  
and turned, pacing around his desk and sitting in the large chair,   
set behind, with an expansive gesture of disconcern.  
  
"Go ahead, then. Spoil my day for me." He said that with a  
smile. Titus raised an eyebrow and grinned.  
  
"The Death Sailors have survived the ambush attempt on the   
safe house in Lockheed Moor."  
  
Jade's heart sank, but he kept the smiling mask going.   
"Really? How disappointing." He swivelled his chair and looked out   
of the window. "They must be quite determined to kill me, then."  
  
"They're Republican operatives, sir.... They're quite   
dedicated, and anything but stupid."  
  
"You sound like you admire them."  
  
Titus swallowed. "I admire them? I merely wish we had   
someone within our soldiers as experienced and as dedicated as they  
are." She closed her eyes and gritted her teeth. The bastard   
always knew which kind of lines to use to upset her. Why was he  
always on guard like this? There simply never seemed to be an   
opportunity to make her play for him....  
  
"I, too, wish there were such people within my army." He  
chuckled. "I would not be as frightened for my future as I am at  
this very moment." He turned back to her. "How many days will it  
take them, on foot, to reach Nemesis Gate?"  
  
"They have escaped via the sewers. We have a party pursuing  
them, right at this very moment."  
  
"That's not what I asked you."  
  
"Via the sewers, sir.... About two and a half days."  
  
Jade clenched his teeth and exclaimed in a manner that   
suggested he'd just been bitten by someone. "They should have had  
someone covering those sewers."  
  
"Considering the effect the spearhead squad had within the old  
school building, in which the safe house was placed, I don't think   
it would have made much difference."  
  
"It would have changed the nature of the fight. The sewers   
would have made the battle arena just a little more level....   
Nowhere to hide... Just shoot and run."  
  
"There are alcoves within the newer sections, sir. That would  
have made the situation less equal."  
  
"But Lockheed Moor is NOT one of the newer sections, is it?   
It was anything BUT." Jade spat. "If they'd been pinned down in   
the old sewers, then we wouldn't be having this conversation, now."  
  
"I'm sorry, sir. I'll have the squad leaders replaced with   
someone more suitable."  
  
"That's not the point, now, is it? They've managed to escape  
into the sewers, and are probably somewhere well along the network  
of tunnels, making their way here."  
  
"If they know the sewers well enough not to get lost."  
  
"They wouldn't have scuttled the safe house and run down there  
if they didn't know where they were going."  
  
  
Silence passed between them for close to a minute as they both  
made to recover from their verbal stoush. Titus swallowed and   
clutched onto her workboard with both hands, tightly. "Well, we'll  
soon know how far they've gone.... The pursuit squad is currently  
making its way along the sewers."  
  
"For your sake, Titus, and theirs, I certainly hope they catch  
them. I don't like the thought of having to deal with them,   
myself."  
  
Titus swallowed again, saluted, and left the office.  
  
----o  
  
The small but heavily armed pursuit squad paced through the   
old sewer tunnel in as good a tactical manner that could be achieved  
in a straight stretch without anywhere to hide. Their shoulder-  
mounted spot torches bobbed within the darkness, making their   
approach to the cave in look a tad silly. At least, that was what  
Detern thought as he opened his eyes and wondered why he was still  
capable of seeing something.  
  
"There's someone down there, on the floor." He heard one of  
them say. Well, duh.... He thought to himself, trying to sit up,  
marvelling the fact that he still seemed to have some semblance of  
movement in his legs.  
  
"They're moving. Should we shoot them?" He heard another one  
say. There was a sigh from the squad's leader.  
  
"Look at the uniform! It's one of OUR guys, fer chrissakes."  
  
"It was only a suggestion." Said the beleaguered soldier.   
Yes, Detern thought to himself, another fine example of the Reality  
Militia's intellectuals, that one.  
  
He heard their footsteps approaching, showing less caution as  
they saw the cave in. "Jesus! The whole thing's come down." One   
of the flank soldiers ran up to the mound of brickwork, cement and  
soil that blocked their path.  
  
The squad leader knelt down beside Detern as he managed to sit  
up against the wall. "Are you okay?"  
  
"No, I am not okay. They got me with a mine." He winced as   
he felt the first telltale signs that things were going to be   
painful for a while, forgetting to include the fact that he'd just  
about walked into their trap....  
  
"I'd say you're lucky to be alive." The squad leader looked  
down at Detern's legs. "Light shrapnel grenade. Made to go bang  
with much force than scatter the bits and pieces."  
  
"Made to level the roof of the tunnel, more likely." Detern  
clenched his teeth. "You don't happen to have anything that will  
make me feel REAL happy for the next few ours on you, do you? This  
is beginning to hurt."  
  
  
The squad leader nodded, and snapped his fingers at the medic,  
a small girl who had stood at the rear of the group. As she ran   
forward to attend to Detern's wounds and desire for happy juice, the  
squad leader stood and unhitched his transceiver from his belt.   
"Squad 30 to Youma One, copy?"  
  
"Youma One, Squad 30, we copy." Was his crackling reply. It  
was a good thing radio communications were still working this far  
underground....  
  
"Youma One, we have found one watch soldier, wounded, within   
the sewer tunnels. He was apparently caught out by a mine laid by  
the targets.... The tunnel has been subsequently sealed, over."  
  
There were a few silent moments of crackling static as the  
squad leader watched his subordinates eye the cave in,   
appreciatively. Eventually, he recived a reply. "Well, he's a   
silly little man, isn't he? Over."  
  
  
The squad leader sighed....  
  
----o  
  
"There is no doubt about it, Madam President. The safe house   
has been lost...." Serenity's secretary paced the floor of her   
office as she leaned her head in her hands, against her desk,   
thinking deeply.  
  
"When did communications with the security system cease?" She  
asked, her face pale.  
  
"About an hour ago. There was, apparently, an almighty blast,  
virtually eradicating the entire safe house and the automatic   
gaurd." The secretary put his hands behind his back, sighing.  
  
"Then they scuttled the safe house...." Serenity rubbed her  
face with her hands. "Were the militia really that close to   
cracking the security?"  
  
"More likely they tried to drag the local authorities into   
their fight. In that kind of situation, it would have been only   
natural that Lady Luna and the Death Sailors would have chosen to  
scuttle the safe house and run."  
  
"Usagi...." Serenity whispered to herself. Her secretary   
gave her a quizzical look.  
  
"Did you say something, Madam President?"  
  
Serenity looked up at him, realising that he must have heard  
her remark. She put up her hands, smiling nervously. "It is   
nothing. I was.... merely thinking aloud."  
  
"You were thinking of Usagi, weren't you?" His tone softened  
quite deeply. Serenity swallowed, nodding. "I'm sure she'd   
alright, Madam President. She's a lot like you used to be when you  
were her age."  
  
"I most certainly hope so." Serenity cast her mind back to   
the days when she used to be a member of the Republican   
Resistance... "Although, I must say, I only ever seemed to escape  
the tighter spots by the skin of my teeth.... That is one thing I  
hope she inhe...."  
  
"Madam President!" Her secretary barked. She looked up at   
him with surprise. "Need I remind you? The walls have ears."   
Serenity opened her mouth to speak, then closed it, nodding.  
  
"I'm sorry. Get our people to the scene as quickly as  
possible. I want it confirmed, or not, that Lady Luna and the Death  
Sailors are alive and well...."  
  
"Yes, Madam President." The secretary bowed, and strode from  
her office.  
  
  
Serenity sat back, crossing her hands in front of her mouth,  
remembering back to the cold days of the civil war, and the child   
she bore....  
  
----o  
  
Rei sat on the access ledge as Luna looked down at her wet   
feet with much disgust. "This sludge is probably full of the worst  
parasites known to medical science.... We'll be ill for years, if  
not dead." The noble leaned against the wall on the ledge, now glad   
to be away from the running stream of the sewer  
  
"This is just drainwater, you know. It's not as if every   
toilet in the city empties into here, or anything."  
  
"You're just trying to make me feel better, I can see it in   
your eyes." Luna sniffed and turned back to the door, set into the  
wall at the back of the access ledge. "Are we to leave this   
disgusting place here?"  
  
"You're kidding, right? This is Bardon Park.... We're   
nowhere near Vermion Lock, yet."  
  
"Wonderful." Luna turned up her nose. "I should have   
listened to my mother's advice when she told me never to become   
involved in politics."  
  
"You were one of the aristocracy.... You weren't going to be  
able to avoid it." Rei leaned against her backpack, which she had   
removed. "We only stopped here to wait for the others."  
  
"If they're still alive."  
  
"Oh, I'm quite sure they're still alive. That blast we heard  
was one of Ami's mines."  
  
"She probably blew herself up with it, in which case we should  
expect the enemy to come rounding the corner any minute now."  
  
"Oh ye of little faith."  
  
Luna sniffed. "Experience has taught me never to discount any  
possibility."  
  
"Nor has it taught you when it is a good time to voice your   
personal opinions." Rei snorted.  
  
"So what if I like to mouth off? At least you know how I feel  
about things."  
  
"Oh yes.... Rei nodded, dubiously. "I know EXACTLY how you   
feel about things, right at this very moment."  
  
  
"Trying to kill us off before our time, is she?" Rei and Luna  
turned to Usagi as the girl peered around the corner of the ledge,  
half smiling. "So typical for Luna.... She never had any faith in  
me...."  
  
Luna crossed her arms as Usagi and Ami stepped into view and  
jumped up onto the ledge. "Can you blame me? I know you better   
than they do." She pointed to Ami and Rei. "I was there when you   
made the greatest mistakes of your life."  
  
"Yeah, having you there at the time was one of them." Usagi  
snorted as she dumped her backpack next to Rei's, mirroring her by  
sitting on the ledge. "The tunnel has been blocked off by the mine.  
We aren't going to get any chasing us from that direction." Usagi  
nodded back the way they came. Rei looked down into the stream at   
the base of the ledge.  
  
"That probably means they'll try and get to us through   
accessways like this." She thumbed the doorway behind them. Luna  
instinctively back from the door.  
  
"You're kidding? And we've been sitting here for, what, ten  
minutes?" Luna swallowed. Rei sighed and shook her head.  
  
"They're probably still pouring over the plans of the sewer  
system. Not having posted any soldiers within the tunnels, it is  
obvious they never considered this to be a potential escape route,  
and therefore wouldn't have a blind idea where to go in the process  
of chasing us."  
  
"So it isn't likely they'll have spotted this entrance on the  
plans, yet." Ami finished, stepping up to the access door and   
running her hand down it. "Should I fix it for them?"  
  
"I think mining it would be, right at this very moment, a bit  
premature." Rei mumbled.  
  
"What if the next person who came through that door was a city  
maintainance worker? I'm quite sure the President would be happy to  
compensate his or her family for the loss of their loved one." Luna  
barked in her own inimitable fashion. Ami cringed.  
  
"It was only a suggestion. No need to bite my head off about   
it." She stepped over to the ledge and sat down, sulking. Luna   
looked down at her, haughtily.  
  
"I think moving on from here, as quickly as possible, would be  
the best plan of action, don't you think so?"  
  
The trio looked at each other for a few moments.  
  
"I think she's right, Usagi." Rei said, chuckling, as Usagi  
grumped.  
  
"Very well, then.... Let us move out." Luna took a hold of   
her backpack, which was sitting at her feet, and started to heave it  
over her shoulder. Rei looked back at her, grinning.  
  
"Of course, you can lead the way, if you wish."  
  
"What?" Luna stared at her in disbelief.  
  
"Yeah, that's right. If there are any holes or anything in   
the floor of the sewer, we'll soon know when you disappear into the  
water's murky depths...." Usagi continued Rei's line, a grin   
speading across her face.  
  
"Uhuh.... Down into the deep, dark sludge, where you can play  
with your little parasitic friends." Rei snorted.  
  
"I don't need the pair of you to patronise me...." Luna   
huffed and secured her backpack over her shoulders.  
  
"Oh my.... You mean it's that dangerous to traverse these   
sewer tunnels?" Ami rubbed her chin. Rei, Usagi and Luna   
sweatdropped. Usagi put a hand on Ami's shoulder.  
  
"It's okay, Ami.... You can go back to your little   
dreamworld, now." She and Rei stood up and surveyed the darkness  
of the tunnel ahead with their torches. "How much further before we  
reach an accessway like this to Vermion Lock?" Usagi bit her lower   
lip, thinking to herself.  
  
"Uh, guys...." They heard Luna say, quietly, but ignored her.  
  
"It's quite a long walk. We'll have to replace the batteries  
on our torches before then." Rei took a deep breath as Ami stood up  
beside them.  
  
"We could always use the infrared goggles. That'll save on   
the batteries, and make us a less easy target to find down here."  
  
"Uh... Peoples...." Luna continued.  
  
"Shh!" Usagi chided her, making a quick glance backwards.   
She turned to Ami. "Yes, I think that might be the best idea."  
  
"Uh, I really think you should turn. I have something of a  
small problem, here." Luna's voice was rather insistent, so they   
did turn, and saw something they didn't want to see.  
  
Two masked soldiers were standing either side of Luna, holding  
rifles up to her head, as a third emerged from a ventilation shaft   
set above the access door, jumping down and holding the trio at bay  
with his own rifle.  
  
As they moved for their own weapons, they heard clicking   
noises and splashing sounds from the water channel behind them.   
They turned back to the stream to see another ten or so soldiers,  
standing in the water, aiming their weapons a the three operatives.  
  
"Oh shit bugger damn." Rei muttered.  
  
"Yes.... Not the best of positions to be in." Ami swallowed  
as the three lifted their hands from their weapons, trying to smile  
and look unthreatening.  
  
"Nice people...." Usagi croaked pathetically. "We don't want  
to mess up your nice, clean sewer, or anything. We'll leave, if you  
want...."  
  
"Who are you?" The figure at the front of those standing   
within the stream strode forward. The voice was that of a stern   
young woman.  
  
"More to the point...." Usagi swallowed. "Who are you?"  
  
  
The woman paused, lowering her rifle, cautiously. Slowly, she  
lifted up her free hand and took hold of the top of her mask,   
removing it.  
  
The woman's face was regally attractive, with a soft, round  
face with high cheekbones, fringed by dark, wavy hair that had   
small, wavy cowlicks, falling across her forehead. Dark eyes   
pierced the very souls of the four within the twilight of the   
tunnel. She lifted her face and stared at them, arrogantly.  
  
"I am Angelique Petz, commander of the brave soldiers of the   
Republic of Darkness. I repeat my question. Who are you?"  
  
  
END OF PART 5  
  
--------------------------------------------------------------------  
  
ACROSS THE BORDER  
  
  
In the heat of the day  
Many miles away when the  
Sun is beating downthe main street.  
I'll be waiting at the station,  
I gotta move down the line.  
  
They'll be dancing and singin'  
And doin' their thing  
And they'll be rockin' and rollin'  
Until the day is done.  
You know I've got to  
Make the deadline-  
  
I gotta get that southbound train tonight-  
If I don't get to the border then I'll write.  
  
The Mardis Gras  
Will be blowing strong  
And the people dancing  
All across the city  
I'm leavin' here tonight  
I gotta move down the line.  
  
I'm gonna catch a ride  
On the 9.05  
I'm gonna ride the rails  
Until we reach the morning,  
Maybe three or four  
Hundred miles.  
  
I gotta get that southbound train tonight-  
If I don't get to the border then I'll write.  
  
When the wind is blowing  
Softly throught the streets  
of a little town  
And the music's playin',  
You're waitin' somewhere  
Over the horizon.  
  
I gotta get that southbound train tonight-  
If I don't get to the border then I'll write.  
  
  
-Jeff Lynne-  
  
  
"Across the Border" is the 4th track from the Electric Light   
Orchestra's 1977 double album, "Out of the Blue".  
  
--------------------------------------------------------------------  
  
Next Chapter - "The Festival of Ephis"  
  
_________  
/ @ \ DDFA (The Right Dishonourable Mark A Page)  
/ / ^ ^ \ \ ayanami@internode.on.net  
/\  
\/ \/  
\___________/  
/_/ \_\ PU  
  
-------------------------------------------------------------------- 


	6. Across the Border part 6: Underworld

--------------------------------------------------------------------  
  
B I S H O U J O S E N S H I S A I L O R M O O N  
  
A C R O S S T H E B O R D E R  
  
by DARK DAY FOR ANIME (Mark A Page)  
  
--------------------------------------------------------------------  
  
Disclaimer - This is a story containing characters who were created  
by anyone but me. That anyone would happen to be Takeuchi Naoko.  
  
Handle it.  
  
--------------------------------------------------------------------  
  
W H A T H A S G O N E B E F O R E  
  
Having escaped the safe house alive, after the attack by the Realist   
Militia soldiers under the command of ADAM JADE, the DEATH SAILORS:   
TSUKINO USAGI III, HINO REI JNR and PROFESSOR MIZUNO AMI, operatives   
of PRESIDENT SERENITY and the REPUBLIC OF SURREALISM, with the LADY   
LUNA DE SADE, have made their way into the sewer system of the   
Republic's capital in an effort to reach the district of Vermion   
Lock, which borders Jade's stronghold in Nemesis Gate.  
  
A single Realist soldier, by the name of DETERN, pursued them into   
the sewers, and managed to catch up with them, but was dealt with by  
Ami's underhanded technological trickery, and only just escaped with  
his life as the sewer tunnel collapsed....  
  
  
The Death Sailors reach the sewer access door at Bardon Park,   
partway to their intended destination of Vermion Lock, where they   
must cross the parkland border into Nemesis Gate. After a few   
moments rest and discussion of their situation, they encounter....  
  
  
--------------------------------------------------------------------  
  
  
"Uh, I really think you should turn. I have something of a  
small problem, here." Luna's voice was rather insistent, so they   
did turn, and saw something they didn't want to see.  
  
Two masked soldiers, dressed in black uniforms were standing   
either side of Luna, holding rifles up to her head, as a third   
emerged from a ventilation shaft set above the access door, jumping   
down and holding the trio at bay with his own rifle.  
  
As they moved for their own weapons, they heard clicking   
noises and splashing sounds from the water channel behind them.   
They turned back to the stream to see another ten or so soldiers,  
standing in the water, their own weapons, mostly automatic and  
semi-automatic rifles, targeting the three operatives..  
  
"Oh shit bugger damn." Rei muttered.  
  
"Yes.... Not the best of positions to be in." Ami swallowed  
as the three lifted their hands from their weapons, trying to smile  
and look unthreatening.  
  
"Nice people...." Usagi croaked pathetically. "We don't want  
to mess up your nice, clean dirty sewer, or anything. We'll leave,   
if you want...."  
  
"Who are you?" The figure at the front of those standing   
within the stream strode forward. The voice was that of a stern   
young woman.  
  
"More to the point...." Usagi swallowed. "Who are you?"  
  
  
The woman paused, lowering her rifle, cautiously. Slowly, she  
lifted up her free hand and took hold of the top of her mask,   
removing it.  
  
The woman's face was regally attractive, with a soft, round  
face with high cheekbones, fringed by dark, wavy hair that had   
small, wavy cowlicks, falling across her forehead. Dark eyes   
pierced the very souls of the four within the twilight of the   
tunnel. She lifted her face and stared at them, arrogantly.  
  
"I am Angelique Petz, commander of the brave soldiers of the   
Republic of Darkness. I repeat my question. Who are you?"  
  
----o  
  
Part Six  
Underworld  
  
----o  
  
"The Republic of what?" Usagi had just enough time to put  
on a comical expression of confusion before all four were disarmed,   
and bundled from the doorway ledge, into the stream below by the   
trio of soldiers behind them. Usagi almost toppled forward into the   
water, caught in time by Rei. "Thanks." She whispered softly to   
the dark-haired girl.  
  
"I'd rather not see anyone take a mouthful of this gunk." Rei  
replied, pulling Usagi close to her. "Don't say anything to these  
people that may antagonise them.... If they are who I think they   
are, they might be of some assistance."  
  
"What are you talking about?" Usagi frowned, before she felt  
the muzzle of Petz's rifle prod her in the shoulder.  
  
"Quiet, you." Petz sneered. "You remind me of someone I used  
to know."  
  
"Oh.... Uhh... That's nice." Usagi swallowed. Petz   
shrugged and looked away.  
  
"Yeah, I suppose you could say that. But she's dead now. I  
had to kill her...." Petz rubbed the length of her rifle. "People  
with faces like yours always turn out to be trouble." Usagi managed  
to place Ami between herself and Petz, much to the woman's   
amusement. Ami, put on the spot, felt it was time to exercise a  
little of her knowledge involving the Republic of Darkness.  
  
"Eraewoh wuoysa edursa enoemos llet ewdluo hsyhw." Ami stared   
nervously the stunned Petz, who turned aside to her deputy. He   
shrugged, gesturing to his mouth with one of his hands. Petz curled   
her lips and turned back to Ami.  
  
"You understand... our language?"  
  
Ami raised an eyebrow, now feeling a little more confident.   
"Won, kuo, ynah teromd natsre dnu spahrepi." Petz's lips pulled   
back even further as she gritted her teeth, feeling that she had   
lost control of the situation.  
  
"Ylrael ceti uquoy. Dnat sred nuiemk comot deenon siereht."  
  
"What did she say?" Usagi whispered aside to Ami, who tried   
to hush her. Usagi wasn't having any of it, though. "It's no good   
if you're going to talk a language I don't understand."  
  
"You don't but she does, eh?" Petz smiled at Usagi, relieved   
to learn that not all of her captives were capable of speaking her   
kins' tongue.  
  
"So what if I don't?" Usagi huffed. "I don't even know who   
you people are. I've never heard of you before. Are you members of  
the republic, or affiliated with the Reality Militia?"  
  
Ami and Rei cringed as Petz strode forward, pushing them aside   
and gripping the collar of Usagi's coat. "What did you say?"  
  
"I... I said...." Petz didn't give Usagi the time to reply.  
  
"WE ARE SOLDIERS OF THE REPUBLIC OF DARKNESS! WE EXIST TO   
HIDE OUR ART FROM THE LIGHT OF DAY AS A STATEMENT IN ITSELF. WE ARE  
NOT ALLIES OF THE REALITY DISEASE! THOSE WHO SAY SO MUST DIE!" And  
with that, Petz lifted the muzzle of her rifle underneath Usagi's  
chin. Usagi was as close as one could get to wetting herself at   
that moment. It was Rei who managed to save Usagi's bacon. Getting   
down on her knees, lowering herself into the murky water that ran   
along the sewer, she bowed her head to Petz.  
  
"Syaw ruo yfot narong, isi ehsr uono hruo yott lusni rehevi   
grof." Petz looked down at Rei, sneering.  
  
"Diaseh stah wrof rehlli, kotgnill iwnah teromerael poepy muo   
ydnuo rakool ruo noh ruoottlus nireh rofes ucxeons iecnarong ireh!"  
Rei lifted her head and stared at Petz's soldiers, all of whom   
appeared ready to use their weapons on Usagi at any moment, she   
lowered it once more, trying to affect an appeasing stance.  
  
"Esru ocfol liwru oyotre, dnerru sew."  
  
Petz laughed in Rei's face. "Ecioh cynau oygni vigtonerae   
werau oyes ruocfo." She lowered her gun from Usagi, who used the   
occasion to take a breath, having held it in until now. "Are you  
members of the Reality Militia?" Petz asked of Rei, who raised her  
head to meet Petz's gaze.  
  
"We are... operatives of the Republic.... We are... were...  
being pursued by members of the Reality Militia, who are attempting  
to kill us, so we are not given the opportunity to kill their   
leader, Adam Jade."  
  
"Hino....." Lady Luna pushed past Ami. "What are you doing?"  
  
"What does it look like I'm doing?" Rei turned to Lady Luna   
with a pained expression.  
  
"Kneeling in parasite-infested water.... You can't just tell   
these people about our plans.... They're not members of the   
Republic's system...."  
  
"What else would you have me do? Allow them to kill Usagi?"  
Rei held up a fist to Luna, who went silent, then turned back to   
Petz who had let go of Usagi, pondering what Rei had told her.  
  
"And who might you be?" Petz's attention changed to the new   
interloper, placing Luna on the spot.  
  
"Who indeed." Luna crossed her arms and looked away. "I   
don't give my name to barbarians who lurk within the foetid darkness  
of the sewers."  
  
"Good one, Luna. Antagonise them. It'll make everything so  
much better." Usagi croaked as she rubbed her throat, still feeling  
the aftereffects of having her collar dig into her skin.  
  
"Lady Luna de Sade." Petz chuckled. "Well well well....   
This is a comedown for a member of the old aristocracy...." She   
paced around Luna, pressing her face uncomfortably close. "Not used  
to getting down and dirty with 'barbarians' like our good selves,   
yet more than willing to traverse these sewers with a trio of   
incompetents, not knowing what you might stumble into."  
  
"They are not incompetent." Luna huffed. "They are one of   
the Republic's best assassin teams."  
  
"Hoooo." Petz and her soldiers mocked, then started to laugh.   
Within a moment, Petz raised her hand, and they all went silent.   
"Very impressive, my dear Lady.... But it must be said, if they   
were competent, then they wouldn't have been so easily caught out   
by the ambush we had sprung on them." She pressed her face   
underneath Luna's right ear. "Ne?"  
  
"That was.... unfortunate." Luna shivered at Petz's presence.   
"And I am not 'traversing' the sewers by choice. That was her   
decision." Luna gestured to Rei, still on her knees. "Are you   
going to kneel there all day? You've probably got a terminal blood   
fluke infestation, already...." She turned back to Petz, pressing   
her own face up close. "So, what do you intend to do with us,   
hmmm?"  
  
Petz smiled, stepping back as she shrugged. "I suppose I   
could dispose of you.... That would be the normal course of action.   
We can't have anyone from the world of light witnessing our   
performances, especially those dedicated to serving the light...."   
She paused. "However, your purpose.... to kill this Adam Jade....   
has me intrigued. I think it may be worthy to take you to see OUR   
president."  
  
"Di... Dimando?" Ami gasped as she helped Rei to her feet.  
  
"I'm lost." Usagi scratched her head.  
  
"I'm not surprised, for someone as stupid as you." Petz   
snapped at her, making Usagi cringe.  
  
"Don't be like that.... I dunno who this Dimando person   
is...."  
  
"You've never heard of the GREAT DIMANDO?" Petz stared at  
her, disbelievingly.  
  
"No... Should I?" Usagi swallowed, quite certain she had  
sealed her fate with this. Petz, however, arched her back, laughing  
out loud.  
  
"Dimando shall be truly disappointed.... Someone who DOESN'T  
know of him.... The great hero of the civil war...." Petz slung   
her rifle over her shoulder. "One of the reasons he joined us, to  
become our president.... To escape the fawning hero worship of   
those within the light. He shall, indeed, take a shine to you,   
girl. Come, let us return to our homeland." And with that, Petz  
snapped her fingers, pointing further along the tunnel. After   
replacing her mask, Lady Luna and the Death Sailors were marched   
away from the Bardon Park doorway intersection. At gunpoint, to   
their consternation.  
  
----o  
  
The first sign that they were approaching anything that could  
be described as a form of civilisation was the noise of people....   
Partying. It was distant, but with each step, it came closer, and   
louder.  
  
They had trudged through a series of tunnels of varying   
standard and condition. Across dilapidated metal and concrete   
walkways which spanned underground caverns of immense size and   
proportion, both manmade and natural. Then through a succession of   
locks and doors, many of which, surely, no longer existed on the   
maps of the capital city management.   
  
Usagi remarked, occasionally, over the writing that had been   
stamped on much of the construction they had encountered....   
Characters she was unfamiliar with. Only Ami and Lady Luna seemed to   
understand the language, and remarked that it was nothing more than   
inconsequential directional and safety guidelines, written in a   
language that they'd described as 'Japanese'.  
  
"Japanese?" Usagi scratched her head. "I've never heard of   
it. Does it still exist?"  
  
"It did. Three thousand years ago, back in the pre-Elysian   
era of our nation's history, when all the islands were united....   
The language was used to create a semblance of a common bond between  
the people." Ami rubbed her chin as she studied some of the symbols  
on a doorway they were passing through. She was moved along by one  
of Petz's soldiers.  
  
They continued along the sewer, which began a slow descent.   
There was tacked-on railing at the side if the tunnel, which they   
used to stop themselves slipping on the wet, mold-laden floor. The  
rails had obviously been placed there well after the tunnel's   
construction, possibly by members of the Darkness. Most of Usagi's  
efforts to question Petz or any of her soldiers on the matter was   
met with cold silence, or a form of gentle persuasion to keep   
moving, by a now-consistent nudging of gun muzzles.  
  
After ten minutes, the tunnel started to level off, then   
widen. Usagi pushed up alongside Ami, nudging her in the side.  
  
"What happened to the language?" She sniffed. "A language  
just doesn't disappear, does it?"  
  
"What language?" Ami frowned.  
  
"This 'Japanese' language...." Usagi looked at her,   
hopefully. "Is that how you say it?" Ami opened her mouth and   
nodded.  
  
"Oh, it exists.... Or fragments of it.... However, the   
collapse of the pre-Elysian society into a succession of feudal   
militarist regimes saw the upswing of regionalism and regional   
dialects and the watering-down of resistance to outside influences.  
The majority of the language we speak today finds its source on the  
other side of the planet."  
  
"Yeah, what you said." Usagi scratched her head, lost in   
Ami's explanation.  
  
"Look, it's very simple.... All languages change over time,  
mostly through little pockets of population speaking in accents,   
which become less and less like the original language to form   
languages of their own. Place, on top of this, frequently spoken  
languages from outside these regions, and what you get is a totally  
new language that bears nothing in common with the original, not   
even in their basic patterns of written form and audible   
expressionist content."  
  
"You're starting to use the long words, again." Usagi sighed.  
"I almost managed to follow you, that time." Usagi felt someone   
nudge her in the side, and turned to see Luna, who was staring   
around at the walls and ceiling of the tunnel. "What? What is it?"  
  
"Is it my imagination, or is it unusually bright in here?"  
  
Ami and Usagi looked around, surprised to find that their   
torches were no longer providing the lion's share of the   
illumination.   
  
Ami switched off her torch, placing it within her jacket. "A   
strange, green glow, wouldn't you say?" She ran her hand along the   
wall of the tunnel.  
  
"A form of fungus, producing a phosphorescent-like glow." Ami  
turned to Petz's voice, surprised to find the woman so close behind  
her, so quickly. "Despite the fact that our people have grown   
accustomed to the lack of light that exists within the world we   
live, we are not yet capable of seeing in the dark.... We   
congregate wherever this fungus is to be found.... Indeed, we have  
studied it, and learnt how to make it grow, and prosper...."   
  
Petz gripped Ami's arm and dragged her to the head of the   
group, watched by Usagi, Luna and Rei. At the end of the tunnel was   
a ledge, lined by a railing. Beyond the ledge, they could hear the   
sounds of people, and see a greater amount of the eerie green glow.   
Petz held Ami up against the railing, the blue-haired girl staring   
at the scene below her with awe. "You see it? THAT is OUR   
homeland."  
  
"A CITY?!?" Ami's mouth hung open. "Down here?"  
  
"A city beneath a city." Petz crowed, proudly.  
  
Beyond the tunnel, a monumentally huge cavern opened up,   
running for miles in every direction. From both the roof and the   
floor of the cavern, like massive stalactites and stalagmites, were   
buildings and residences, hewn from the same material as the walls   
of the cavern itself.  
  
The entire scene was illuminated by vast quantities of the   
same fungus that lined the entrance tunnel. And along the centre of   
the cavern's floor was a vast esplanade, along which hundreds of   
people were celebrating in various groups and marquees.  
  
"They're.... They're celebrating the Festival of Ephis?" Ami   
turned to Petz, who removed her mask with a flourish, her face a   
picture of rapturous madness.  
  
"Do you think those who prefer to live in the light have the   
sole rights of ownership to the ways and thoughts of the great   
Montxo Ephis? It is by his teachings that we choose to be what we   
are."  
  
"OX TNOM LI AHLLA!" Shouted one of Petz's solders.  
  
"OX TNOM LI AHLLA!" The others replied. Ami shook her head  
and sighed. Next to her, Petz had lifted up a small lamp, which had  
been hooked to her belt, and started to signal to a figure who   
could be seen through a window in the nearest building that hung   
from the ceiling. Usagi, Rei and Luna joined Ami as they watched  
the private conversation that was flashed back and forth.  
  
"What are you doing?" Luna inquired of Petz as she refastened  
the lamp to her belt.  
  
"You don't think I brought you here just for the view, do you?  
We have to get down from here, somehow."  
  
"And how would that 'somehow' be?" Luna stared at Petz,   
archly.  
  
"You're really cruisin' for a good whuppin', you know that?"   
Usagi snarled at her. Luna ignored her and leaned over the railing.  
  
"It's a long way down. I hope you're not expecting us to   
abseil down the side of this cavern." Petz chuckled at Luna's   
statement.  
  
"Nothing of the sort, my dear Lady. I promise you, we shall  
make our way down, into the city, with a little more style than   
that." Petz gestured towards the nearest building. From underneath   
the window where the figure that had been having the conversation   
with Petz could be seen, a metal platform started to slide out, to   
the humming of whirring gears and machinery.  
  
"That's one hell of a gangplank." Usagi muttered.  
  
----o  
  
The platform connected with a lock that sat underneath the   
railing, giving a very satisfying click that made the four jump with  
surprise, to Petz's amusement. The railing then slid aside,   
allowing them all access.  
  
Usagi, Rei, Ami and Luna were then marched across the platform  
by Petz, her second in command and two more of her soldiers, the   
others remaining on the ledge, as if guarding the access from some  
invisible enemy.  
  
On the other side of the platform, a doorway slid open in the  
wall, with the same clunking of machinery that accompanied the   
platform's movements. The individual whom Petz had had her private  
conversation with stood in the doorway, a young woman, dressed in   
the same black uniform, who had light hair that matched her   
complexion, and a young, almost innocent face. She smiled, sweetly,  
at Petz as they entered the building.  
  
"My, I must say, these four don't look anywhere near as   
troublesome as you described them." The young woman giggled.  
  
"Thankyou for your kind words, Guardolier Beruche.... Is   
everything prepared for them?" Luna and Usagi turned when they   
heard Petz's question.  
  
"What is prepared for whom?" Luna turned to Petz,   
indignantly. Beruche ignored her.  
  
"After your initial contact, we had the cell block readied  
for them.... Plus the interrogation units, if need be."  
  
"Interrogation units?" Usagi bit her lower lip.   
"Interrogation for what?"  
  
"Are they normally this talkative?" Beruche pointed to the  
four. Petz shrugged.  
  
"Well, they haven't stopped talking since we nabbed them. I  
suppose you could say yes."  
  
"I must protest...." Luna began, but wasn't given time to   
finish. With a snap of Beruche's fingers, a dozen security guards,   
dressed in a plain gray uniform, emerged from the wings and dragged   
the four away to much noise and clamour. Petz and Beruche stuck   
their fingers in their ears as Usagi and Rei used the most foul   
language imaginable. Once they had been dragged through the rear  
door of the guard room, Beruche relaxed.  
  
"You may return to your patrol duties, Petz." She removed her  
fingers from her ears. Petz, who still had hers firmly planted in,  
looked at her with confusion.  
  
"What did you say?"  
  
Beruche sighed and gripped Petz's wrists, pulling them down to  
her sides. "I said you can return to your patrol duties, now."  
  
"Oh, right.... Sorry about that." Petz shook Beruche off and  
clicked her fingers at her henchman, pointing back across the   
platform. They nodded and started to make their way back across.   
Petz paused before leaving. "Don't have too much fun with them.   
I'd like to see them in one piece when I return, tonight."  
  
"Oh, you...." Beruche waved her away as Petz chuckled.  
  
----o  
  
Usagi was bundled into the small, dark cell not long after she  
had been stripped of her backpack and clothing, and bodily searched.  
The indignity of the act was compounded by the number of people who  
were watching, through various portals, into the common room of the  
cell block.  
  
Given back her suit, she quickly dressed, an instinctive need  
to cover herself from the prying eyes.... Then she was manhandled  
into the cell, a cubicle not much larger than a small shipping   
container.... The cell comprised nothing more than four walls, a   
floor and a ceiling, all made of the same rock-like concrete that   
everything in the city seemed to be made of. The only concession to  
comfort was a canvas mat at the far end of the cell.  
  
Usagi listened, silently, as she heard Rei and Luna complain,  
bitterly, about their treatment, as they too were bundled into cells  
of their own. Then silence.  
  
Usagi slunk her way over to the mat, and sat down, feeling   
somewhat drained by her experience, and stared at the light that was  
cast through the small window of her cell door, almost hypnotised by  
the pale luminescence.  
  
She must have been this way for close to an hour before her  
cell door was opened. It surprised her, although it was standard  
procedure within the Republic Security Forces to allow prisoners to  
stew in their own juices for that length of time before they started  
to question them. She didn't feel ready to be interrogated for   
whatever reason it was they were going to be questioned....  
  
She looked up at the doorway, and was surprised to find that   
the only figure standing there was that of a small-framed man in his  
late thirties. He was quite attractive, with a soft, boyish face   
and white hair.... His skin, like most of those who lived in the  
underworld, was pale, and his eyes seemed tired and somewhat   
distant.  
  
"So.... You are the one who professes not to know of me..."  
He mused, softly. "Strange.... Since you seem to remind me of   
someone I used to know."  
  
"Who are you?" Usagi croaked. The man's face lit up with  
amusement.  
  
"Oh yes.... I remember now.... Indeed...." He stepped into  
the cell, the door closing behind him. "Your name would be Usagi,  
would it not?"  
  
"Ano...." Usagi swallowed. "That is... my name... But how  
did you...?" The man took a breath and knelt down before her.  
  
"Yes, I thought so. Well, you can call me Sergei.... Sergei  
Dimando...."  
  
"Dimando?" Usagi's jaw hit the floor. "You... Aren't you  
supposed to be.... The president of all this, here in these cells,  
with a prisoner...."  
  
"I witnessed you... ahem... 'search', and put an end to it   
before my people caused you to endure much more of the indignity..."  
He reached out a hand. "Please forgive their uncouth treatment....  
They are a paranoid breed, but I fear it comes from some   
justification."  
  
Usagi took his hand, and the both of them got to their feet.  
"Aren't you taking a risk, then, coming into the cell of a prisoner  
like myself?"  
  
Dimando smiled. "My dear, pretty young lady.... I know you,  
perhaps better than you realise.... If you are willing, I would   
like to extend the hand of our hospitality...."  
  
"Why should I trust you?"  
  
"Hmm?"  
  
"One of the classic methods of interrogation is to get the   
prisoner to let down their guard. How can I be sure that you aren't  
just leading me on?"  
  
Dimando seemed genuinely disappointed by Usagi's question. "I  
guess.... You're just going to have to trust me...."  
  
  
END OF PART 6  
  
--------------------------------------------------------------------  
  
ACROSS THE BORDER  
  
  
In the heat of the day  
Many miles away when the  
Sun is beating down the main street.  
I'll be waiting at the station,  
I gotta move down the line.  
  
They'll be dancing and singin'  
And doin' their thing  
And they'll be rockin' and rollin'  
Until the day is done.  
You know I've got to  
Make the deadline-  
  
I gotta get that southbound train tonight-  
If I don't get to the border then I'll write.  
  
The Mardis Gras  
Will be blowing strong  
And the people dancing  
All across the city  
I'm leavin' here tonight  
I gotta move down the line.  
  
I'm gonna catch a ride  
On the 9.05  
I'm gonna ride the rails  
Until we reach the morning,  
Maybe three or four  
Hundred miles.  
  
I gotta get that southbound train tonight-  
If I don't get to the border then I'll write.  
  
When the wind is blowing  
Softly throughout the streets  
of a little town  
And the music's playin',  
You're waitin' somewhere  
Over the horizon.  
  
I gotta get that southbound train tonight-  
If I don't get to the border then I'll write.  
  
  
-Jeff Lynne-  
  
  
"Across the Border" is the 4th track from the Electric Light   
Orchestra's 1977 double album, "Out of the Blue".  
  
--------------------------------------------------------------------  
  
Next Chapter - "The Fish"  
  
For those who have trouble understanding the language of the   
underground dwellers.... Just read it backwards. Although, you   
should ignore the way the letters are grouped.... That's just to  
make sure it looks like a real language when spoken. Be a nightmare   
for anyone to deal with if they intend to translate this into   
any language other than its original English. ^_^;;  
  
_________  
/ @ \ DDFA (The Right Dishonourable Mark A Page)  
/ / ^ ^ \ \ ayanami@internode.on.net  
/\  
\/ \/  
\___________/  
/_/ \_\ PU  
  
-------------------------------------------------------------------- 


	7. Across the Border part 7: Past Perfect

--------------------------------------------------------------------  
  
B I S H O U J O S E N S H I S A I L O R M O O N  
  
A C R O S S T H E B O R D E R  
  
by DDFA (Mark A Page)  
  
--------------------------------------------------------------------  
  
Disclaimer - This is a story containing characters who were created  
by anyone but me. That anyone would happen to be Takeuchi Naoko.  
  
Handle it.  
  
--------------------------------------------------------------------  
  
W H A T H A S G O N E B E F O R E  
  
After being given the task of hunting down and killing the reality  
terrorist and dictator, Adam Jade, the Death Sailors and the Lady  
Luna de Sade have been pursued by his forces into the sewers of the  
Republic of Surrealism's capital.  
  
Whilst making their escape, they are captured by soldiers of the   
Republic of Darkness, ruled over by the one-time hero of the   
struggle against the once-ruling monarchy, Sergei Dimando. They are  
taken to the underground city that is the homeland of his republic,  
and treated cruelly at the hands of underlings. But before their  
mistreatment can go any further, Dimando himself intercedes on their  
behalf....  
  
--------------------------------------------------------------------  
  
"The most disappointing thing about living underground...."  
Dimando smiled as he strolled casually along the concourse,   
overlooking the main boulevard of the underground city, making Usagi  
feel slightly nervous. "....Is losing the tan that I had once been  
so famous for. The glow of the fungus just isn't a replacement for  
pure sunlight. But then, I suppose that is really the point down   
here.... The sun is our enemy. We live for much more subtle   
shades, much like the mechanisms by which our society operates."  
  
Usagi looked around the concourse, feeling slightly giddy in  
the unfamiliar situation. Having been freed of her cell, she had   
been personally invited by Dimando to his private domain, where he  
had been celebrating the Festival of Ephis with his personal   
entourage when he had learnt of her capture. And now here she was,  
walking in the open air (well, closed air, considering how far   
underground they were, but she wasn't splitting hairs over such   
concepts) without so much as a weapon or any signs of personal   
defence for either herself or Dimando.... It made her feel utterly  
naked. Not as naked as she had been when Beruche's people had   
stripped and searched her earlier, but naked all the same.  
  
She became aware that Dimando was awaiting some response to   
his statements, and she did a double take. "Subtle.... As subtle  
as being bundled by a gang of armed goons into your city and being  
strip-searched?"  
  
"Yes, I'm terribly sorry about that." Dimando looked away, a  
smile on his face. "Not my idea of subtlety, true, but when you are  
at war, you can't expect the normal shade of civility to show its   
face." Dimando stepped away from her, leaning against the railing  
and looking down onto the boulevard, where street entertainers were  
making more noise than was really necessary in such a sealed   
environment. Usagi opened her mouth to say something, closed it  
again as she thought things through, then....  
  
"War? With the Reality Militias?" There was a long silence.  
Uncomfortably long. Without turning, Dimando nodded.   
  
"I'd escaped to this place in the hope of not seeing this kind   
of hostility again. The Civil War was enough for me. I didn't want   
to glorify what I had done, since I had not been willingly party to   
my actions. I'm not a violent man, but there is blood on my hands,   
and the spirits of those people shall never let me be." Usagi   
swallowed and looked at her own hands for a moment, silently   
remarking on the blood she had, metaphorically stained there.   
Dimando, meanwhile, continued.... "So I wanted to go somewhere   
where I should never have to face that kind of possibility again."   
He stood up and turned to her. "But it followed me here. I suppose   
I blame myself for allowing that to happen. Ever since the blockade   
at Bardon Park...."  
  
"What blockade?" Usagi came to from her musings.  
  
"The militias had set up a command post and training camp   
within one of the old construction pits in the tunnels underneath  
Bardon Park. When my people discovered it, we naturally destroyed   
it. The tunnels are our territory. Unfortunately, the militias had  
rather taken to the idea of using the underground as their personal  
playground. We have been fighting them off ever since." Usagi   
lowered her eyes, digesting this piece of information.  
  
"Why did you not ask us for help?"  
  
"Ask you for help?" Dimando laughed out loud, then controlled  
himself when he realised Usagi was being serious. "My dear girl, it  
is against the fundamental philosophies of our society to ask those  
who bask in the light of the sun for help. It would also mean   
giving us away to anyone who might wish to bring us harm. An enemy  
on your borders is something you can live with and fight against,   
safe in the knowledge that they are over there...." He pointed away  
from them, gesturing the concept. "But a potential enemy right   
under your very feet is another matter. You'd never be able to   
remove the sense of insecurity that it would bring you."  
  
Usagi sighed and turned from him, stepping away a short   
distance. "We still could have helped." She muttered.  
  
"Perhaps." He said with equal softness. Usagi then turned  
back to him.  
  
"That still doesn't explain why you were so keen to release  
me. I mean just me. Myself. I. Not my partners." She crossed   
her arms. "I mean, you have let them out of their cells, but you've  
only allowed me the run of the city. Why?"  
  
Dimando smiled and waved a finger in front of his face. "Now  
that would be telling."  
  
  
----o  
  
Part Seven  
Past Perfect  
  
----o  
  
  
The brightness of the room was surprising, considering how   
little light there was coming in through the small, barred windows.  
Surprising, considering the dark moods of the trio that were,   
nominally, imprisoned there.  
  
Beruche had described it as a guests' leisure room. Not that  
Dimando had many 'guests', considering how secretive the Republic of  
Darkness liked to be. In fact, it was probably built for people   
just like they, but that didn't make them feel any more honored.  
  
They could hear the sounds of the boulevard beyond the   
windows, and that made their captivity all that much worse. Rei was  
pacing from one end of the room to the other, occasionally cursing   
at the painting of Dimando, set above a mock fireplace at one end of  
the room. At the other end, she'd kick the large, thick metallic   
door, painted to look vaguely wooden. She'd then hop around as she  
was reminded of how solid it actually was. Then she'd forget again  
over the next few minutes of pacing, glancing at the tablet-like   
monitor set in between two windows, which displayed a narrowcast of  
the festivities. She hated feeling caged like this.... Indeed, Ami  
remarked to herself as she watched her partner, Rei resembled a   
caged lion, walking backwards and forwards along the length of the  
bars, waiting its opportunity to escape.  
  
Ami was sitting in the middle of the room, on the small settee  
that marked the only substantial item of furniture, hunched over   
with her hands in her lap, thinking. Occasionally she would glance  
at the others, then at the monitor. Neither Rei nor Luna paid her  
much attention, which was how she liked to think things through....  
Undisturbed. Luna was lounging across the back of the settee,   
staring at the ceiling, drumming her fingers against the sides of  
the cushions. She had not moved from this position since they were  
guided here, and Ami was counting the seconds until she exploded.   
Well, of the three of them, she was the most likely to. Both she   
and Rei were trained, to some degree, to vent their frustrations in  
as expedient a manner possible. Luna, on the other hand, was a   
member of the aristocracy, and whatever her experience she was still  
subject to her emotions.  
  
"Usagi...." Luna said, softly. Rei paused in her stride and  
turned to her.  
  
"What about her?"  
  
"I'm...." Luna paused with her mouth open, then closed it   
again and remained silent. Rei took a long breath and turned to the  
monitor, gesturing to it with a dismissive hand.  
  
"You'd think they'd lock us in here with more to watch than   
this garbage." She huffed, crossing her arms. "Street theatre.   
Woah, am I impressed." Her tone dripped with sarcasm. "Montxo   
Ephis would be turning in his grave." She paused. "Of course, his  
grave is somewhere above us right now. I'd hate to think, when I   
die and am shoved into the dirt to feed the weeds, that this was the   
only entertainment available to me."  
  
"What is so wrong with street theatre?" Luna asked, flatly.   
Well, as flatly as she was able to. Rei snorted.  
  
"This isn't art. This isn't even close to a form of valid   
expressionism. It's just a pack of tossers making an arse of   
themselves to anyone who might want to use the street as a street."  
  
"Not everyone feels that bombing kindergartens is a valid form  
of expressionism, Rei." Ami mumbled. Luna sat up at this, looking  
from one girl to the other.  
  
"Bombing kindergartens?" She raised her eyebrows. "You're   
not telling me you...."  
  
"That was a joke." Ami sighed and pulled a remote from the   
gap in the settee between herself and the armrest. "Anyway, we can  
always change channels."  
  
"Was that a joke?" Luna turned to Rei, ignoring Ami. Rei put  
her hands on her hips, a wicked smile on her face.  
  
"I'll let you decide, hmmm?" She turned back to the monitor.  
"Okay, lets see what other crap they've got running. It's not like  
there is anything else we can do until Usagi brokers us some form of  
freedom."  
  
"We could always try planning an escape." Luna sounded   
hopeful. "You know, make some kind of plan.... Trick our captors  
into thinking one of us is sick, and then...."  
  
"What for?" Ami held up the remote and switched the channel  
on the monitor. It now showed a pair of young women, lying naked on  
a bed, petting and kissing each other. "Oh now that is classy."   
Ami snorted.  
  
"What for?" Luna shook her head. "Need I remind you that we  
have something to do that cannot wait?"  
  
"Are they old enough to be doing that kind of thing?" Rei   
crossed her arms and watched as the girls.... continued to pet and  
kiss each other, without seeming to go any further.  
  
"Who knows." Ami rested her head against her arms. "Maybe  
they're making some statement about pornography? They don't seem to  
be getting anywhere with what they're doing."  
  
"Thus denying those watching for purely voyeuristic reasons   
the payoff they're looking for." Rei pointed to the top right hand  
corner of the screen, in which a clock display quietly ticked away   
to itself. "If that's any guide, they've been at this for close to  
eleven hours."  
  
"I wonder if they have toilet breaks?" Ami crossed her legs.  
"Speaking of which...."  
  
"You two seem to have absolutely no sense of duty or purpose!"  
Luna clenched her fists at her sides, growling as her patience   
finally snapped. Rei and Ami turned to her, their faces   
expressionless masks.  
  
"Perhaps...." Ami said, softly and directly to Luna. "It   
would be an idea for your good self to assume feline form. Whilst   
it is certainly impossible for us to escape this room." She pointed  
to the barred windows. "It certainly won't be so difficult for   
something as small as a cat."  
  
Luna's rigid form relaxed, and she made to say something, then  
she shook her head. "Yes, well.... I might, at the very least, be   
able to see what is going on between Usagi and Dimando...."  
  
"Weren't you all gung-ho about our escaping from here?" Rei  
asked, petulantly. Luna closed her eyes, shaking her head.  
  
"You wouldn't understand. I need to see what is happening   
between them." She opened her eyes again. Ami had now stood and   
both she and Rei were ranging up on Luna. "What?"  
  
"You've seemed unduly concerned with what is going on between  
Usagi and Dimando before we were even placed here." Ami cocked her  
head to one side, rubbing her chin. "Why?"  
  
"It's not something you would understand."  
  
"Try us." Rei made the short statement seem rather final.   
Luna sighed and turned away from them, pacing across the room to a  
window on the far side.  
  
"It.... is rather personal. Only a very few people know about  
it. But I'm afraid." She shook her head. "No, afraid isn't the   
right word. I'm sure Dimando wouldn't hurt her."  
  
"Dimando HURT Usagi?" Rei crossed the floor quickly, grabbing  
Luna by the arm and spinning her around.  
  
"Be careful, that hurts...." Luna mumbled as Rei gripped her  
other arm, forcing her to face her.  
  
"Why would Dimando hurt Usagi?" Rei demanded of her. Luna   
shook her head.  
  
"No, you don't understand.... That's not what I mean. I   
mean, back in the days of the civil war, Dimando and President   
Serenity fought alongside each other.... They were members of the  
same republican platoon." She paused. "And a great deal more...."  
  
Rei let go of Luna's arms. "Dimando.... and President   
Serenity.... were...."  
  
"Lovers, yes. They had a relationship that lasted until just  
before the end of hostilities."  
  
Ami paced on the spot, theorising. "And Usagi bears a great  
resemblance to Serenity. And thus, he might...." She paused, then  
stopped and chuckled. "Well, he might get more than he bargains for  
if he does. I'm sure Usagi wouldn't tolerate such a guy making a   
pass on her."  
  
"That's the problem." Luna looked miserable. "Even at his   
age, he's still a good looking man. And a very powerful man at   
that." She gestured around her. "With all this at his beck and   
call, she might just consider doing anything to curry favour with  
him. To free us so we can continue on our way, and our purpose. Or  
even have the Republic of Darkness support us."  
  
"She wouldn't." Ami shook her head.  
  
"Actually...." Rei looked from one to the other. "She might  
just." She covered her eyes with a hand, rubbing them as if   
suddenly tired. "Usagi has something of a second-rate death wish.   
She tends to take risks, and sometimes I think it's because she's  
willing death to claim her. There are moments when she doesn't care  
about herself or her reputation."  
  
"Oh, it's much worse than that." Luna glowered. "You see,   
after Serenity and Dimando broke up, she fell in love with, and   
married, Lord Endymion."  
  
"I know that. So what." Luna looked at Rei in frustration.  
  
"What most people don't realise is that they had a child."  
  
"But President Serenity...." Rei began, before something   
dawned on her. "A child.... A daughter?" Luna nodded. Ami   
blinked, cluelessly.  
  
"President Serenity cannot have children. We all know that.  
How could she and Endymion have had a child? A daughter?"  
  
"Baka!" Rei snapped at her. "Isn't it patently clear? Why  
do you think Usagi looks so much like President Serenity? Because  
she is the President's daughter!"  
  
Ami's mouth opened wide as it hit home. "But that.... That  
still doesn't explain the fact that the President cannot have   
children."  
  
"Oh no, she can't have children NOW." Luna warmed to the   
subject. "And back then, they hid her pregnancy from people so as  
to protect the child from assassins or kidnappers. Eventually, when  
she was born, she was given to a pair of foster parents. She never  
knew they were not her parents. Even after they were killed in a   
terrorist attack...." Luna's voice started to fail. She composed  
herself, then continued. "Someone within the echelons of government  
found out about Usagi, and attempted to kill her. But they failed,  
instead only killing her family.... Her foster family."  
  
A long silence followed, as both Ami and Rei returned to the  
settee, sitting down whilst trying to digest this new information.  
"And so...." Rei licked her lips. "That's why you want to protect  
Usagi.... from Dimando...."  
  
"No. I mean, yes.... Oh, it gets worse. You see, nobody was  
ever sure about the paternity of Usagi.... You see.... Dimando may  
be Usagi's father."  
  
----o  
  
"And so night falls." JunJun smiled to herself as she stared   
at the darkening sky. "And the Festival of Ephis enters its final   
day. Will Jade's army bring devastation upon us all, or will this  
day mark a turn in the eternal struggle against reality?" She   
peered over at CereCere, who was sitting cross-legged, eyes closed,  
as if meditating. "You know, I find it very boring to spend a large  
portion of my day on the roof of a building. Especially in a   
district as devoid of takeaways as Nemesis Gate."  
  
"As devoid of anything." VesVes was hunched up against the  
roof wall, holding her legs. "Oh, I want to kill something so   
badly. It's just burning me up from within."  
  
"That's not really our job, this time. Ain't that right,   
CereCere." JunJun waited for an answer, but received none.   
"Yes...." She went on anyway. "That's not our job. Of course,   
they don't give us the complicated jobs, anyway."  
  
"With your attitudes, I'm not particularly surprised."   
CereCere opened her eyes, smiling sweetly. "It is our role in life  
to provide distractions, so that others may get on with their work,  
whatever that work may be. And in this case, those 'others' do seem  
to be somewhat delayed. I imagine they're having something of a   
problem getting here from the other side of the city. Perhaps they  
have been cornered by a faction of the militias."  
  
"Whatever they're doing, I'm still bored." VesVes snorted.   
"I say we ditch this place and find out what's holding them up."  
  
"Patience, my dear girl, patience." CereCere held up a hand.  
"Although I am enamored with that as an idea in itself, remember   
that we are also in a vulnerable position. At any moment, our   
presence here may be detected by the enemy's surveillance. And then  
we shall be, how would you say, neck deep in smelly brown stuff.   
Precipitous action may be our downfall."  
  
"Well...." JunJun pointed to the sleeping form to her left.  
"At least one of us knows how to behave in this situation." She   
smiled as she prodded PallaPalla in the side with a finger, making   
the girl mutter.  
  
"PallaPalla wanna her candy.... PallaPalla can't live without  
her candy." She snuffled and buried her head deeper into the folds  
of her backpack. JunJun placed a hand on her forehead, a rare soft   
expression on her face.  
  
"Remember when we used to be like her, before our personality  
programs kicked in?" The other two remained silent, so she   
continued. "Like an ice pick through my mind. That's what it felt  
like. And then there was the bleeding. I almost died. She still  
hasn't gone through that."  
  
"I hope she never goes through something like that." VesVes  
muttered, clenching on of her hands. "Because when she does, there  
will be hell to pay, for everyone around her."  
  
----o  
  
Usagi said little as she was guided through what appeared to  
be a form of moss garden courtyard. She was happy enough that this  
particular lifeform did not glow, as she was becoming slightly   
queasy because of the strange green light given off by the fungus.  
Dimando must have noticed this, she felt, as he placed a gentle arm  
around her shoulders and helped her through to the next building, a   
large hallway that was illuminated by counterbalancing reddish   
lamps.  
  
"The glow of the fungus takes quite a bit of getting used to,   
I'm afraid. And I'm not just talking about its colour." Dimando  
helped her to a small seat, set to one side of the hallway. "It can  
be detrimental to one's health, for a little while. It gives off   
rays that cause the body to produce chemicals in the blood of those  
who are not seasoned by its glow." She looked up at him in alarm   
after leaning forward, holding her face in her hands to stop the   
world spinning. "No no no. They won't cause you any long-term   
damage. It's an autonomic reaction within the body.... It thinks  
something is happening when it isn't, and does strange things like  
that for a little while."  
  
"How long?" Usagi said, eventually, when she found her voice.  
  
"A day or so. As I said, it won't cause you any long-term   
damage. There have been people living down here for hundreds of   
years, and they aren't all suddenly breaking out in strange diseases  
and mutations."  
  
"I'd keep a watch on it, though." Usagi breathed in deeply,  
allowing the air to clear her head. "Regardless of how many   
generations have been down here.... I'd keep watching. Living in a  
place like this, long term, is likely to change the people, even in   
subtle ways."  
  
"We are not afraid of change. Those who are are already   
dead." Dimando smiled, even though his tone seemed serious. "I'm   
sorry that this had to happen to you so soon. I would have liked to  
have shown you a little more of my palace. Now I suggest you get   
some rest and sleep the problems away."  
  
"I can't." Usagi stood, unsteadily at first, making Dimando  
reach forward for her, but she waved him away. "All this   
hospitality is very nice, but there really is something both myself  
and my friends have to do. We can't be kept here like this."  
  
Dimando raised an eyebrow, but his smile didn't disappear.   
"You were found within the sewer system of the surface city, of   
course. What were you doing up there?"  
  
Usagi opened her mouth to say something, then paused. "I   
don't know if I can tell you, but it IS important, for the future of  
the surface city. MY city. MY homeland."  
  
"Yes, that's all very well...." Dimando nodded, pursing his   
lips. "But you're here, now. And I don't know if I can let you   
go."  
  
"Why not?" Usagi stared at him, making him feel as if he'd   
been struck by a 10,000 volt blast. He struggled to reply.  
  
"The location of the city is a secret."  
  
"The reality militias know about it." Usagi put her hands on  
her hips. Dimando sighed. She was just like her. EXACTLY like   
her. Always forthright and to the point, even if the point was   
wrong.  
  
"No, they don't know about the city. They know we exist, but  
they don't know where the city, itself, is. And, I'm afraid, that   
is something we'd rather keep a secret."  
  
"Even at the expense of the Republic of Surrealism?" Usagi  
growled. "If that is the case then I'd rather die. You'll have to  
kill me, because there is no way I am going to remain here, whilst  
my friends and people are butchered by Jade's peop...."  
  
"Jade? Adam Jade?" Dimando frowned as Usagi put a hand   
across her mouth.  
  
"I didn't say that. You didn't hear me say that...." She  
stammered as Dimando stepped away, rubbing his chin.  
  
"Adam Jade.... He can't have joined them. No! I refuse to  
believe such a possibility."  
  
"Why? Is it so hard to believe that such a terrorist would  
become part of the reality militias?" Having given away most of  
everything, Usagi decided, there wasn't much point in hiding it any  
longer.  
  
"Adam Jade was one of the most dedicated members of the   
Republican Guard, both during and after the civil war." Dimando's  
face hardened. "Oh yes, I knew Adam Jade. He was a good man, and  
a truly artistic spirit."  
  
"He is a cold-blooded murderer and a terrorist. Given the  
opportunity, I will kill him with my bare hands. It would pleasure  
me to do so." Usagi sneered. "Whatever he may have been in your   
time, he has more than betrayed."  
  
"And.... is he your target? Are you an assassination squad,  
hired to kill this man?" Dimando turned to Usagi, and her emotions  
did an about-face. There seemed to be a sadness in his eyes.  
  
"We are such a squad, yes, but we are patriots. Part of the  
armed services that protect the Republic."  
  
"It's always a mistake, you know.... To allow oneself to  
become emotional about the past." Dimando put his hands on her  
shoulders. "I knew your parents, you know? They were good people.  
The most honorable people it has been my pleasure to meet."  
  
Usagi swallowed, wondering if she should have felt some   
surprise at this revelation. It certainly explained why he had   
singled her out the way he did. "Did you know they were killed by a   
terrorist, working for the reality militias?"  
  
His fingers tightened their grip, giving her all the answer   
she needed. Still, he said.... "No, I didn't know that. I left  
not long after the foundation of the Republic. I'm sorry."  
  
"Don't be. I have been claiming revenge for their deaths ever  
since."  
  
Dimando let go of her and threw his hands in the air. "Oh, my  
child.... How could you?"  
  
"How could I?" She didn't understand the question. "It was  
very easy. VERY easy. My family.... They were EVERYTHING to me.  
Without them, there was nothing else to live for. There IS nothing  
else to live for."  
  
"No.... No.... My child, you don't understand." Dimando   
shook his head. "I had hoped you hadn't sullied yourself....   
Brought yourself down to the same level as the militias. I'm sorry.  
I understand how hard it must have been for you."  
  
"Oh, don't be." Usagi stepped back from him. "Knowing this  
obviously makes you think a whole lot less of me." She turned and  
started down the hallway. "I take it this leads to your private   
chambers? We can discuss my fate and that of my friends there."  
  
"Wait!" Dimando swallowed as paused and she turned, arms   
crossed. "I didn't mean to offend you. I'm not criticising you for  
what has happened in your life. That is all in the past, now, so it  
doesn't matter. It's just that.... You remind me of someone.   
Someone I used to know quite well." He paused, not knowing what to   
say next. "I had hoped.... You would live a more peaceful and   
happy life than she. It hurts me to know how much sadness you have  
endured, and how much it has affected you."  
  
Usagi's expression was unreadable. She tilted her head back,  
slightly. "Is that all? Is that really the reason why you   
separated me from the others? Because I remind you of someone?"  
  
"Is it not enough?" He replied, softly. "That, and the fact   
that I was there when you were born. Is that not enough for you?"  
  
Usagi remained silent for a few moments more, thinking.   
"Would you then kill me if I asked you to?"  
  
Now it was Dimando's turn to think things through. "Why?   
Would you ever be likely to ask me?"  
  
"Perhaps." She paused. "If you think so highly of me, you   
can let us be on our way, where I might possibly die. Would that  
not amount to the same thing?" She paused again. "This   
conversation is becoming morbid. Let us continue on our way...."  
  
And with that, Dimando lead Usagi to his private chambers in  
silence....  
  
  
END OF PART 7  
  
--------------------------------------------------------------------  
  
ACROSS THE BORDER  
  
  
In the heat of the day  
Many miles away when the  
Sun is beating down the main street.  
I'll be waiting at the station,  
I gotta move down the line.  
  
They'll be dancing and singin'  
And doin' their thing  
And they'll be rockin' and rollin'  
Until the day is done.  
You know I've got to  
Make the deadline-  
  
I gotta get that southbound train tonight-  
If I don't get to the border then I'll write.  
  
The Mardis Gras  
Will be blowing strong  
And the people dancing  
All across the city  
I'm leavin' here tonight  
I gotta move down the line.  
  
I'm gonna catch a ride  
On the 9.05  
I'm gonna ride the rails  
Until we reach the morning,  
Maybe three or four  
Hundred miles.  
  
I gotta get that southbound train tonight-  
If I don't get to the border then I'll write.  
  
When the wind is blowing  
Softly through the streets  
of a little town  
And the music's playin',  
You're waitin' somewhere  
Over the horizon.  
  
I gotta get that southbound train tonight-  
If I don't get to the border then I'll write.  
  
  
-Jeff Lynne-  
  
  
"Across the Border" is the 4th track from the Electric Light   
Orchestra's 1977 double album, "Out of the Blue".  
  
--------------------------------------------------------------------  
  
_________  
/ @ \ DDFA (The Right Dishonourable Mark A Page)  
/ / ^ ^ \ \ ayanami@internode.on.net  
/\  
\/ \/  
\___________/  
/_/ \_\ PU  
  
  
Version 1.0 - 3.33am Friday, 9th June 2000 


	8. Across the Border part 8: Alarming Regul...

--------------------------------------------------------------------  
  
B I S H O U J O S E N S H I S A I L O R M O O N  
  
A C R O S S T H E B O R D E R  
  
by DDFA (Mark A Page)  
  
--------------------------------------------------------------------  
  
Disclaimer - This is a story containing characters who were created  
by anyone but me. That anyone would happen to be Takeuchi Naoko.  
  
Handle it.  
  
--------------------------------------------------------------------  
  
W H A T H A S G O N E B E F O R E  
  
Having been chased into the sewers by the Reality Militia, the Death  
Sailors have been captured by soldiers of the Republic of Darkness -  
a city within a cavern, deep underneath the Capital of the Republic  
of Surrealism.  
  
There, they are imprisoned, but quixotically, Usagi is allowed to   
meet with Dimando, one-time hero of the Civil War that brought the  
Republic of Surrealism into being, and now President of the   
Darkness.  
  
Whilst awaiting news of Usagi's progress, Luna reveals that Usagi is  
the daughter of President Serenity, and that her father might be, in  
fact, Dimando.... A fact kept secret from both Usagi and   
Dimando....  
  
--------------------------------------------------------------------  
  
The Chief Commander of the advance team brought his soldiers  
to a halt. "What did you say, sergeant?" He turned to the burly   
man, who crouched to his left in some vague attempt to hide, even   
though he wasn't sure, in the depths of the sewer system, how they  
were going to hide, and even if someone as large as himself was   
capable of hiding regardless.  
  
"I said it is getting awfully light in here, sir." The   
sergeant swallowed. "The infrared goggles were blinding me, so I  
had to take them off, and I can still see." He gestured around to  
the half dozen other soldiers, most of whom were leaning against the  
walls of the old tunnel, looking bored, one or two picking their   
noses as if it were the only important thing in their lives. The   
Chief Commander snapped at them all, bringing them to attention   
fairly quickly.  
  
"Hmmm...." The Chief Commander put a hand up to the wall next  
to him, feeling the rough surface. "This seems to be one of the   
older parts of the sewer system. Look, the walls are bricked,   
rather than cemented." He paused. "And covered with a kind of   
moss, or fungus, or whatever it is.... And look." He pulled some   
of the covering from the wall, rubbing it between the fingers of his  
gloved hand. "It glows. Especially when you aggravate it. Rub it  
together and break open the cells or spores that contain the   
substance."  
  
"Natural phosphorescence." The sergeant nodded. "I've seen   
this before."  
  
"Where?" The Chief Commander quizzed.  
  
"In some of the training grounds, caverns within the   
mountains. Although it was combined with a large proportion of   
animal life. Bats, cockroaches, rodents and other things I couldn't   
identify. I thought they ate and spread the stuff, since it seemed   
to be everywhere they were. But in here, there really isn't   
anything...." He gestured around. "Maybe it's spread by something   
else."  
  
"Well, it's not likely that things living down here would jump  
out at us and say hello, sergeant." The Chief Commander chuckled to  
himself. "And this stuff is getting stronger and more prevalent the  
further we go. We might be entering one of those caverns now."  
  
"Right below the Capital?" The sergeant smiled. "It might   
make a good base for our army.... A secret launching point for the  
coup."  
  
"Unless, of course, the Republic already knows about them."   
The Chief Commander took a deep breath and gestured to his men to   
move on. "Whatever the case...." He muttered. "We're going to   
have to check it out. It might be where our targets were heading to  
elude us."  
  
They made their way further along the tunnel, which proceeded  
to get thinner and brighter, and there was an increasing noise....   
A rushing-like sound, but they thought they could hear what   
appeared to be voices within the overall din. Eventually, there was   
only enough room for them to walk single-file, before it opened out   
again in a kind of landing. What greeted them there made half of   
them drop their weapons.  
  
"Sir.... It's...." The Sergeant began, before the Chief   
Commander stepped forward to the railing that lined the opening to   
the huge cavern.  
  
"I'd say we've found something reportable, wouldn't you,   
sergeant?" The Chief Commander said in a soft voice as he   
overlooked the city below.  
  
----o  
  
Part Eight  
Alarming Regularity  
  
----o  
  
"Wouldn't you say the security here is awfully low?" Rei   
gritted her teeth as she forced the sliding window open, whilst   
doing her best to avoid hurting herself on the bars that blocked  
inside access to it. She noticed that there were bars on the   
outside, as well, slightly cambered to the inner ones. "Metal bars,  
no matter what kind, make a good physical defence against break-in  
or break-out, but they're nothing when compared to a half-decent  
alarm system, combined with the kinds of nasty little security   
devices that leave you half the person you once were, literally."  
  
"I don't suppose they've ever expected this room to actually  
be used." Ami speculated. "In fact, I believe they feel that their  
city is most unlikely to be discovered. Which makes our presence   
here rather tentative at best."  
  
"You mean our health." Rei managed to slide the window as far  
as it would go, which was a great deal further than she expected.   
"Unless Usagi does something to insure it."  
  
"Which makes this whole plan of yours, Lady Luna, rather   
dangerous, I must say." Ami verbalised this away from Luna, who was  
shedding her bodysuit and thus becoming far more naked than Ami   
usually dared to spy on.  
  
"It's not MY plan, remember?" Luna hopped about on the spot  
as she pulled the clinging suit from her right foot. "You're the   
one who suggested it."  
  
"Well, I guess I'll be to blame if you do anything stupid that  
is likely to get us killed by our hosts." Ami huffed petulantly,   
crossing her arms as Rei turned to her.  
  
"She IS the only one capable of fitting between these bars.   
Unless you want to give it a try." Rei gestured to the window.  
  
"No thanks. I'm not THAT desperate to lose weight that I'd   
try experimental fat reducing methods." Ami smiled cutely at Rei.  
"I'd go for the 'knock the guard over the head' method, myself, but  
personal preference has nothing to do with subtlety, so...."  
  
  
There was a flash behind them, and Luna's human form   
disappeared behind the settee. Within seconds, a small dark-blue cat  
emerged, striding across the carpet with more snobbish arrogance   
than even a cat should be capable of. "One thing I'm somewhat sure   
of...." The sudden raise in the pitch of her voice, due to the   
change in her body size and shape, brought a smirk to the pair's   
faces. "....Is that the appearance of a cat in their city may be  
regarded with some suspicion, since it's possible there are no cats  
down here."  
  
"What? Down here?" Rei giggled. "Come ON. A hidden place   
such as this? Cats would be FLOCKING down here in DROVES."  
  
"Well, I hope not. It's one thing to walk around as a cat   
within the relative safety of the city above...." Luna sighed.   
"It's another thing to be leapt upon by a dozen over-territorial or  
amorous strays. And no, before you ask, I do not find other cats   
attractive, alright?" Luna shivered, remembering the occasion a  
noble suitor tried to woo her in the form of a tomcat. A white   
tomcat, at that.... What WAS that guy thinking? Worse, what WAS  
that guy drinking? Shaking off the thought, Luna allowed herself  
to be picked up by Ami and carried to the window sill. From there,  
she checked the gap between the bars and the ledge beyond. "It   
seems to be alright. Getting out won't be a problem, but I'd like  
to know how far that ledge goes, and where, before I end up hurtling  
to my death."  
  
Ami helped her up onto the sill, where Luna curved her way   
through the bars, placing her front feet on the ledge, and stared  
around. "How is it?" Ami inquired.  
  
"It goes a pretty long way, in both directions. Not nearly  
enough to be a foothold for a human. Just enough for me, in fact."  
She paused. "We seem to be on the top level of a large villa made   
of stone, or something white, whatever it is. There is a small   
alley at the base, nobody down there. The alley leads to a much   
larger esplanade, which is just FULL of people, all civilians by the  
looks of things." She peered along the wall. "The esplanade turns  
when it reaches the villa, which continues for some way. Right up   
to what appears to be a major structure, even higher than this one.  
It might be the Presidential Palace. It certainly has the appearance  
of one."  
  
There was a noise from outside the room. Ami turned and   
looked at Rei, who stared back, swallowing, then made her way to the  
door, holding her ear against it.  
  
"What? What is it?" Luna stepped out onto the ledge, then   
turned back to look at Ami, who shook her head.  
  
"It's nothing. We thought we heard a noise." Ami whispered.  
"It's probably the guard falling to the floor from his seat after   
nodding off." She looked back at Rei, who shook her head, relaxing.  
  
"You're going to be deep within the fecal matter if anyone   
DOES enter the room, for whatever reason, and I'm not there."   
Luna's tone betrayed her amusement. Ami wagged a finger at her.  
  
"We can deal with the problem ourselves, thankyou very much.  
And after all, as you said, this is MY idea."  
  
Luna shrugged as well as a cat could shrug. "Very well, then.  
I'll make my way to the building I'm presuming is the Palace. If I  
find out anything of importance, I'll get back to you as quickly as  
possible, okay?"  
  
Ami nodded as Rei joined her. "Good luck." Rei said, simply.  
Luna allowed a tight smile before she disappeared from view. Rei   
then carefully reached up and pulled the window down. "Well, that's  
that." She crossed her arms, looking at her partner.  
  
"Indeed." Ami crossed her legs. "Now, about that toilet   
break...." Rei sighed to herself.  
  
----o  
  
The Guardolier frowned. Having peered up from the watch   
tower, he had been sure he'd seen something descending from one of  
the portal parapets. Not that it was all that likely, since that  
particular portal tunnel had several patrol groups posted to it.   
Then again, it was possibly one of the patrol groups having a lark  
at his expense. It wouldn't be the first time.  
  
The parapet had no adjoining crossbridge. It was too high and  
in too awkward a position, relative to the more important one he was  
guarding, to construct one. So the parapet was not regarded as   
being all that important.... Read: nobody bothered to use it. And  
anyway, one of the roof towers kept an eye on it at all times, so if  
anything nasty DID descend from it, he'd be getting the message very  
soon.  
  
He turned away from the open bridge slide, reaching up to hit  
the security beams that he'd shut off when making his visual recce',  
and was promptly snagged from behind by an arm. Within seconds, the  
burly sergeant had snapped his neck and landed upon the bridge slide  
with an audible thump that made him wince.  
  
Pausing to lie the guardoliers body against the wall of the  
openway, with an almost tender concern, he turned back to the   
opening and gestured, then moved into the watch tower to see if   
anyone had heard him. One after the other, the soldiers of the   
militia group descended into the tower, followed by the Chief   
Commander, who had opted to take up the rearguard. All seven waited  
for the sergeant's return, silently. And when he did, it was with a  
disdainful shrug.  
  
"I can't believe the total lack of security within this   
place." The sergeant huffed. "I'm disappointed. I'd been   
expecting much, much more."  
  
The Chief Commander gestured to the security beam switch.   
"This would seem to be the extent of their efforts." He chuckled  
to himself. "They really don't expect anyone to come waltzing in  
here, do they?"  
  
"Nobody probably has." The sergeant sighed and lifted the Uzi  
9mm he had slung by his side. "May I ask you a question,   
Commander?"  
  
"That's Chief Commander, sergeant. Remember that."  
  
The sergeant sighed. "CHIEF Commander.... What, exactly, are  
we doing down here, anyway?"  
  
"Hmm?" The Chief Commander raised an eyebrow.  
  
"Well, we WERE hunting the assassins, sir. Even if they're   
down here, wouldn't it have been wiser to simply backtrack and   
report our findings?"  
  
The Chief Commander nodded thoughtfully, then smiled. "Well,  
let us say that.... I am intrigued about this place." He paused.  
"That central tower.... One would describe it as a commanding   
center. What do you think, sergeant?"  
  
"Yes, but...." Before the sergeant could say anymore, the   
Chief Commander wrestled his backpack from his shoulders and started  
to open it up.  
  
"I'm in the thinking that we should give these people, whoever  
they are, a bit of a surprise." He pulled back the top flap and   
showed his soldiers the explosives held within. Some of them   
chuckled drily, with thoughts of rampant and completely pointless  
destruction on their minds. The sergeant wasn't quite so sure.  
  
"But sir...." He cleared his throat. "We aren't even sure   
who these people are."  
  
The Chief Commander looked down at the body of the guardolier.  
"It really doesn't matter now, does it. They aren't going to be   
happy when they find him." The sergeant winced again and turned   
away. The Chief Commander crossed his arms. "Anyway, they aren't  
US, which means they must be an enemy. Anybody who isn't US just  
HAS to be the enemy. And the more damage we can inflict on the   
enemy, the better, don't you think?"  
  
"Ooh ahh...." One of the soldiers grinned. "I wonder if they  
have any pretty girls down here.... I'm feeling awfully like   
celebrating the Festival with them." He grabbed his crotch and   
started dancing around, to the cheers of the other soldiers.  
  
"Sergeant...." the Chief Commander said simply as he closed  
his backpack. The sergeant turned around and brought his fist into  
the dancing soldier's midriff, winding the bejeezus out of him. The  
soldier fell to the floor, coughing and spluttering, and his   
compatriots fell silent.  
  
"Would you please mind keeping you thoughts on the task at   
hand, and not the task at...."  
  
"That's alright, sergeant, I think they get the idea." He   
hefted his backpack over his shoulder. "Please dispose of the body,  
sergeant. We'll be moving out in a couple of minutes." He looked  
down at the coughing soldier. "Oh, and you really need to get that  
seen to, when we get back."  
  
"Yes sir." The soldier croaked.  
  
----o  
  
"Aren't you afraid I might escape from here?" Usagi leaned   
over the balcony, staring at the villa below. "I could jump...."  
  
"....To your death, yes." Dimando smiled as he gestured   
around the cavern that housed his city. All around, on the face of  
every wall, there were holes that could, quite possibly, work as an  
escape from the city, a bubble which Dimando quickly burst. "All   
those possible escape routes, and only a very few actually go back  
to the surface."  
  
Usagi sighed. "So even if I do escape, without knowing the  
tunnel system as well as you, I would simply hit a dead end at every  
turn...." She turned to look at him. "One of the reasons you and  
your people are so arrogant in their belief that, firstly, nobody   
would discover the location of this place but, even if they did,   
secondly they wouldn't be able to get away with that knowledge."  
  
"A soldier in every tunnel, and tunnels that lead nowhere.   
Yes, you can believe we are arrogant in our beliefs.... With   
reason. Nobody has ever done anything to shake them." Dimando   
smiled and placed his hands on Usagi's shoulders. She turned away  
from him, trying to avoid his gaze. Dimando's smile faded away,   
feeling a little uncomfortable with her standoffish behaviour.   
"Please don't be this way." He said, softly.  
  
"What way?" Her question seemed directed as much to the city  
as it was to him.  
  
"Please understand why we cannot let you go. Please. It is  
not without reason that we are this way." His fingers dug into her  
shoulders, making her turn back to him. His expression.... his   
eyes.... were so pleading that she felt momentarily ashamed of her  
behaviour.  
  
"I will.... try to escape at some stage.... You realise   
this?" She swallowed, feeling slightly dizzy. Indeed, she was   
feeling somewhat ill, but for different reasons. "Unless, of   
course, there is something I can do for you that will give you   
reason to release us."  
  
Dimando let her go and turned back towards the open window   
doors, striding into his private chambers. Usagi cursed herself,  
knowing that she had said the wrong thing.  
  
"Something you could do...." Dimando sighed as he reached  
the centre of the chamber's main room, staring up at the ceiling  
with his hands on his hips. "Yes, I suppose she would, too, given  
the right situation." His words didn't seem to be addressed to her.  
"Thinking more of what she believed in, not of herself." He turned  
back to Usagi, who had padded through the doorway into the relative  
darkness of the chamber to get away from the nauseating affects of  
the fungal glow. Strangely, the nausea did not dissipate. "You  
haven't even given this place an opportunity, TSUKINO Usagi. I'm  
so sorry that you feel you must do ANYTHING to escape from here.  
I'm sure your mother would feel quite saddened to realise how   
damaged a person you really are...."  
  
"What has my late mother got to do with this?" Usagi spat  
at him with surprising venom, making him do a double take.  
  
"Oh Usagi...." He shook his head. "I wish I could tell you,  
I really do.... But there are things kept from you for good   
reasons. What you don't know cannot be used to hurt others. But  
I fear for you, all the same."  
  
"There is nothing in this world I need to know that I do not  
know." Usagi said between clenched teeth. "I do not want to be   
here. There are things I must do, and I won't allow you or your  
people to stop me."  
  
"That would be a good way of ending up dead or injured."  
  
"At least, either way, I would have tried."  
  
"Don't flatter yourself because of my hospitality. Even if  
you DO get so far, the soldiers out there are still dedicated to  
keeping our homeland a secret. Believe me, you WILL die if you try  
to escape."  
  
"Maybe death isn't such a bad option." Usagi said softly, her  
eyes glazing over. "You're right that I am a damaged person. In   
ways more than simply here." She tapped the side of her head.   
"With that in mind, there is no reason to hold back. If dying   
achieves something...."  
  
"Dying achieves nothing." Dimando cut in. "You may believe  
that your suicidal attitude can be of some benefit to the ROS, but  
they WILL feel differently. Have you ever heard of the Asylum?"  
  
Usagi frowned. "The correctional facility for operatives who  
have turned against the Republic, yes. What of it?"  
  
"I helped to set it up." He paused. "Before I escaped. I   
realised, perhaps too late, the truth behind that facility. It is  
why I abandoned my place in the light."  
  
"So?"  
  
"The Asylum isn't just for operatives who have turned against  
the ROS.... It is to crack those whose attitudes are counter   
productive to the Republic's ideals. And more than that...." He  
paused, swallowing. "If your attitude was to affect the performance  
of your duty, then, knowing WHO you are, you are likely to end up  
within the Asylum."  
  
Usagi shook her head. "Bullshit. Only traitors end up in the  
Asylum. Adam Jade was in there for a short while, before he   
escaped. You remember him, the man who threatens the existence of  
the ROS...?"  
  
"If he is that much of a threat, then I am sure I will have no  
trouble in convincing my people to do something about it." He shook  
his head. "No, I am ever more convinced that you need to remain   
here, Usagi. If only to protect you from yourself...."  
  
----o  
  
Beruche swallowed when she received the report from one of her  
subordinates, and chose to leave her meal to inspect the find   
herself. And it was a damn good meal, too.... None of this   
rubbishy fungus meat substitute.... Real steak with vegetable and  
gravy, with spicy plum sauce and other accompaniments, followed by  
pudding and peaches with custard. And they had the nerve to tell   
her that things could just, possibly, be going to hell during this  
once in a lifetime experience. Before she left, she stared   
forlornly at the meal, and threatened the closest waiting staff to  
personally turn them into the next menu if they didn't, at the very  
least, keep the bloody thing WARM! All of it!  
  
She was carted away from the scene along one of the emergency  
carrier lines to the watch tower in question, along with her   
personal guard, and inspected the body of the guardolier that had  
been found in one of the weapons rooms. The RAIDED weapons room,   
she had to keep reminding herself. Well, at least the bastards who  
did this had the mind to switch the security beams back on after  
they did their worst. Nothing like thoughtful enemy.  
  
STUPID thoughtful enemy. After all, what was the point of  
trying to hide a body in a room that had been so OBVIOUSLY   
ransacked to the first guard detail that had passed this way. It  
just SMACKED of militia.... No imagination, whatsoever. And   
knowing them, they'd probably head for the biggest thing in the  
city, without clueing to the fact that everyone KNOWS that would  
be where they would head. She punched a fist into her hand and  
cursed that they should have even bothered to annoy her meal this  
way.  
  
She turned to her second. "Would you mind telling the good  
Captain who is currently running the detail on the Presidential  
Palace to expect some nasty visitors within the next hour or so. And  
then give the general insurgence alert."  
  
"The general insurgence alert?" Her second stared at her.   
Beruche put her face in one of her hands.  
  
"Oh, for buggers sake! I know we have NEVER had a general  
insurgence alert before, but one would think that we've had enough  
dry runs for you to work it out all for yourself."  
  
"But ma'am...." Her second swallowed. "We've never really   
had it for real. I mean...."  
  
Beruche put her hands on her second's shoulders, addressing  
her silkily. "I know, I know. It's never happened before. I mean,  
I have already said it once, haven't I. But we all know what to do,  
don't we?" She gritted her teeth. "NOW, JUST GO AND DO IT!" The  
second looked about a foot smaller as she scampered away. Beruche  
had to rid herself of the thought of cockroaches scuttling away as   
all her detail gave her a wide berth.  
  
Maybe there was something to this concept of evolutionary  
change after all, with everyone living underground for so long....  
  
----o  
  
It had been quite difficult to get from the ledge to the roof   
of the villa, but apart from that it had been easy sailing for Luna.  
Dashing along the length of the villa she was able to map out what   
she could see of the city in her mind. She ignored the structures  
that hung from the roof of the cavern, as they seemed to perform a  
principally military task, and were unlikely to be somewhere where  
she or the others were likely to, willingly, visit.  
  
She came to a rise in the roof of the villa, and had to step  
back and take a run up to make the jump. Even then, she only just  
managed to hang on by her front paws, and spent a good minute or so  
ineffectually kicking with her back legs before she decided to use  
her claws to pull herself up, like grappling hooks. When she   
finally clambered over, she sat down and puffed, exhausted, and   
stared with disillusioned eyes at the climbs yet to come.  
  
Before she could continue, however, there was an explosion of  
noise. At first, it had seemed like some distant wailing, from the  
direction she and the others had entered the cavern. But eventually  
it creeped across the city like a disease, a growth, of sound.   
Alarms. And very poorly used alarms, by the sound they were making.  
It seemed to her as if it had been a long time since they had been  
given this kind of workout, and half of those operating them   
probably had no idea how to. In fact, considering how many were   
still starting up, most of the operators were just clueing in to  
their use by reading the operating manuals.  
  
She let out a long breath. This could either be good or bad  
for her.... Good that, in all the confusion that was, now, likely  
to occur, absolutely nobody was going to take notice of a small cat,  
flitting across the rooftops. Bad that, in all likelihood, anyone  
she did meet was going to be a soldier and, ipso facto,   
triggerhappy, shooting the first thing that moved.  
  
And so she put out of her mind, however possible, that this   
alarm had been caused by the discovery of her escape, and continued  
on her way....  
  
----o  
  
Usagi had run out onto the balcony as soon as the alarms had  
started sounding. It had been an almost spontaneous action, no   
thought given to what the alarms might represent. There had been an  
instant need to know the situation.... To KNOW. To throw herself  
into the thick of it, whatever it was. Dimando followed her out,  
slowly, as if in a trance.  
  
"I take it, by your demeanor, that this is an unusual event,  
hmmm?" Usagi leaned up to him, smiling. Dimando nodded, blankly.  
  
"Normally it is just one or two of the sirens going off.   
Alert training for the populace. Never anything like this...." He  
seemed genuinely surprised. Usagi swallowed, concerned that he   
should have been so shocked by it all. She took him by the arm and  
dragged him back into the main room of his chambers.  
  
"Then I think it would be better if you were to obey your own  
alarm system and make yourself scarce." She muttered as he   
staggered back from the balcony under her force. Eventually, he  
seemed to come to and stopped her.  
  
"I have to go and see to this." He swallowed. "The speaker  
of the senate will be making his way here, so I should meet him  
halfway. At least look as if I'm in charge." He forced a smile  
onto his face as he looked down at her, touching her face. "You,  
in the meantime, will remain here."  
  
"What?" Usagi looked at him, disbelievingly.  
  
"You heard what I said. This is the safest place in the   
entire city. Believe me, it really is."  
  
"Here? The only part of the entire city that stands out like  
a sore carbuncle?" Usagi shook her head. "What was that you were  
telling me, not so long ago, about this cavern being impregnable?"  
  
"I never said it was. I just said it has never been found  
before. Now it, obviously, has. So...." He shook his head.   
"There are things about the Presidential Palace even the lower-grade  
soldiers don't know about. If whatever enemy it is that has invaded  
our territory tries to launch an attack here, they'll be in for a  
nasty surprise." He pushed her back into a large armchair. "And   
that means, if you try to escape in the meantime, you could get   
yourself hurt. So please, just this once, do what I say, alright?"  
  
Usagi nodded mutely, and he turned from her, marching towards  
the main doors. As he opened them, he turned back and gave her a  
smile, then left her alone, briskly shutting the doors behind him.  
  
----o  
  
The guard opened the door to the guest room and glared in. He  
could see Rei, sitting on the settee', trying to look relaxed. She   
turned to him. "What the hell is that racket out there?" She   
crossed her arms, angrily. "I was just getting into this show when  
it all went off." She nodded at the monitor tablet.  
  
The guard took a breath and stepped into the room. "It's a  
general alarm. Nothing to be scared of. I'm just making sure you  
aren't all climbing the walls.... Wait a minute.... Where are the  
other two...."  
  
CLANG!  
  
The guard slipped to the floor as Ami clouted him over the   
head with the metal tub that the guard had slipped to her only   
minutes before after she had asked for something to use to relieve  
herself. Rei jumped to her feet and ran over to the door before the  
automatic shutting mechanism could seal them in, again. "Quickly!"  
She shouted to Ami. The other girl ran across the floor to where   
Luna's bodysuit was sitting and rolled it up underneath her arm,   
then made her way through the gap between Rei and the doorframe.   
Rei eventually gave in to the fight between herself and the motors  
that were trying to shut the door as she sprawled over the floor in  
the corridor beyond. She looked up as everything went dark, the   
light from the guest room instantly shut off.  
  
Ami smiled as she heaved her to her feet. "That was a good  
idea of mine, ne?" She giggled.  
  
"Well, yeah." Rei shrugged. "It could have been a little   
more subtle."  
  
"Subtle? SUBTLE?" Ami put a hand to her chest with false  
indignity. "You insult me, madame."  
  
"Enough." Rei waved her away. "I suggest we find where they  
have stored our gear and go forth from this place. hopefully with  
Usagi and Luna in tow."  
  
"Just a moment." Ami swallowed. "Haven't you forgotten   
something?"  
  
"What?"  
  
Ami crossed her legs again. Rei sighed and turned away.   
"Just be quick about it, will you? I would hate to think what would  
happen if they caught you in mid stream."  
  
----o  
  
Luna clambered up the second to last of the rises, then  
stopped, feeling utterly exhausted. She looked up at the now-close  
tower, and could see figures flitting past the windows, back and   
forth. Everyone certainly seemed to be in a panic.  
  
She was about to get back onto her feet, when she could hear  
a whirring noise, and caught the image of something rising from the  
roof almost next to her. She leapt from where she was standing as  
a laser beam sliced through the air.  
  
Flinging herself around, she saw the patch of roof explode in  
a small cloud of incinerated cement. She then turned to the small,  
mobile laser port, which was already assuming a new target, and she  
bolted for the next rise, beams whizzing all around her.  
  
She was running so fast that she didn't even think about the  
jump up onto the next section of roof. She just automatically   
leapt, front paws reaching out for a foothold as she flew through  
the air. Even she was surprised when she landed, belly first, a  
full meter onto the next rise. She picked herself up and wiped her  
forehead with a paw, the beams from the laser port striking the edge  
of the rise, well clear of her.  
  
Her relief was short lived, however, as a second laser port  
snapped up from its moorings in the roof and took aim at her....  
  
  
END OF PART 8  
  
--------------------------------------------------------------------  
  
ACROSS THE BORDER  
  
  
In the heat of the day  
Many miles away when the  
Sun is beating down the main street.  
I'll be waiting at the station,  
I gotta move down the line.  
  
They'll be dancing and singin'  
And doin' their thing  
And they'll be rockin' and rollin'  
Until the day is done.  
You know I've got to  
Make the deadline-  
  
I gotta get that southbound train tonight-  
If I don't get to the border then I'll write.  
  
The Mardis Gras  
Will be blowing strong  
And the people dancing  
All across the city  
I'm leavin' here tonight  
I gotta move down the line.  
  
I'm gonna catch a ride  
On the 9.05  
I'm gonna ride the rails  
Until we reach the morning,  
Maybe three or four  
Hundred miles.  
  
I gotta get that southbound train tonight-  
If I don't get to the border then I'll write.  
  
When the wind is blowing  
Softly through the streets  
of a little town  
And the music's playin',  
You're waitin' somewhere  
Over the horizon.  
  
  
-Jeff Lynne-  
  
  
"Across the Border" is the 4th track from the Electric Light   
Orchestra's 1977 double album, "Out of the Blue".  
  
--------------------------------------------------------------------  
  
_________  
/ @ \ DDFA (The Right Dishonourable Mark A Page)  
/ / ^ ^ \ \ ayanami@internode.on.net  
/\  
\/ \/  
\___________/Now in the handy Economy Size, in a choice  
/_/ \_\ PU of red, blue, green, yellow and purple!!!!  
  
  
Version 1.0 - 4.24am, Saturday, 17th June 2000 


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